The Bank of England reported that UK banks continue to face significant risks from cyber attacks, which have cost over £20 billion to address since 2011. Several UK banks and financial market infrastructures experienced cyber attacks in the past six months that disrupted services, though losses were small. However, if vulnerabilities were exploited more significantly, the costs to the financial system could be large. A program is underway to better assess risks and strengthen defenses against such attacks.

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UK Banks Targeted in Cyber Attacks
The Bank of England has said cyber attacks on the UK banking sector
continue to pose a significant risk to its stability.
In its latest Financial Stability Report, the central bank outlined a series
of potential risks and noted that the high cost of tackling hackers is
one significant issue. It has cost over £20 billion to tackle these
since 2011 and the latest data, gathered since June, has shown
there is still considerable vulnerability.

2. The report stated: "In the past six months, several UK banks and
financial market infrastructures have experienced cyber attacks, some
of which have disrupted services. While losses have been small
relative to UK banks’ operational risk capital requirements, they have
revealed vulnerabilities.
"If these vulnerabilities were exploited to disrupt services, then the cost
to the financial system could be significant and borne by a large
number of institutions."

3. The Bank added that a programme has begun to assess the risk
involved and design more effective defence mechanisms to help
reduce the system's vulnerability to attack.
Companies whose own systems will contain financial data may also be
targets for cyber criminals, so it may be wise for firms to have their
information stored remotely in data centres that can make use of the
latest and best intelligence on how to tackle the threats.

4. News that UK banks have been targeted may come as little surprise.
After all, cybercriminals have been at work since the advent of the
internet in trying to gain access to data.
Phishing is an obvious example of this, with emails sent randomly to
individuals claiming to be from their banks asking them to email back
with their log on details. Most people became wise to these attacks, but
cyber criminals have moved on to more sophisticated techniques.

5. A report by business consultancy KPMG published last month claimed
that the next financial crisis will be caused by cyber crime, rather than
the risky practices that led to the 2007-08 credit crunch.
It predicted that many of these attacks would come not from criminals
trying to steal money, but ideological enemies trying to weaken the
west by inflicting economic damage.
Storetec News/Blogs."http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/ukbanks-targeted-in-cyber-attacks". UK banks targeted in cyber
attacks. November 29, 2013. Storetec.

6. A report by business consultancy KPMG published last month claimed
that the next financial crisis will be caused by cyber crime, rather than
the risky practices that led to the 2007-08 credit crunch.
It predicted that many of these attacks would come not from criminals
trying to steal money, but ideological enemies trying to weaken the
west by inflicting economic damage.
Storetec News/Blogs."http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/ukbanks-targeted-in-cyber-attacks". UK banks targeted in cyber
attacks. November 29, 2013. Storetec.