Lagarde warns of financial risks due to cyber attacks
Financial institutions are more exposed to cyber attacks due to the digitization process as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB) warned about the risks to which the stability of the financial system is subjected due to cyber attacks. Although, so far, there has been no incident that affects the financial system could occur in the future, as it happened in Europe in hospitals, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis and the attack on the Colonial Pipeline.
These statements were provided by the President of the European Central Bank within the framework of the opening of the fifth annual conference of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), an institution which she also directs.
According to Lagarde, an attack of this magnitude could be a matter of time. “Businesses have become more exposed to cyber attacks due to digitization and the pandemic has accelerated this trend.”
Lagarde highlights that the financial sector institutions were forced to adapt their entire technological infrastructure to the sudden demand for teleworking and the virtual relationship with their clients, which in her opinion “increased efficiency, but also vulnerability,” allowing cyber problems to spread precipitously.
Cyberattacks on the rise
Cyber attacks and difficulties have become more common and sophisticated in recent years, so in 2019 and 2020 “the number of cyber incidents reported to the ECB increased by 54 % and many of them were malicious”. Lagarde believes that the “cyber attack on SolarWinds, which affected Microsoft email servers around the world, highlights the sophistication of the attacks.”
In the European Union there are approximately 22,000 financial institutions and all have increased their links with IT service providers, which is why a cyber attack could grow rapidly and turn from an operational disturbance to a problem for the financial system.
M. Rodríguez
Source: cincodias.elpais.com
