Criminals have long targeted banks for the simple reason that this is where the money is, but now financial institutions have another threat to contend with: state-sponsored cyber attacks. No longer simply a topic of conspiracy theories, state-sponsored cyber threats are a reality and are pushing financial institutions to rethink how they share information, among themselves, as well as with other industries and government entities.
Cyber security in the finance industry has been mostly focused on attacks conducted by groups or individuals with criminal motivations. But, says Mark Clancy, chief information officer at US financial services firm Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), “in the past two years we have started to see some activities that cannot be explained by criminal motivations”.