Global banks need to do more to protect themselves fromcyberattacks after a “significant evolution” in the threat level inthe last 18 months, according to the SWIFT global paymentsnetwork.

Hackers are deploying increasingly sophisticated ways ofbreaching banks' cyber defenses to launch finely orchestratedattacks, SWIFT said in a report co-written with defense contractorBAE Systems. Intruders can spend more than a year reconnoiteringtargets once they have gained access to their computer systems, thereport said.

“Evidence from recent cases clearly demonstrates the attackers'adaptability, patience, determination and growing sophistication,”the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication andBAE Systems said in the report. “The rise in the threat levelrequires an equally concerted response.”

The number of reported cyberattacks against Financial ConductAuthority regulated companies alone rose to 89 in 2016 from five in2014, Nausicaa Delfas, executive director at the U.K. regulator,said in April. A year ago, Tesco Bank, the lending unit of theU.K.'s biggest grocer, suffered an attack in which money was takenfrom about 20,000 consumer accounts. In February 2016, hackersexploited weaknesses in how banks connect to the SWIFT systemto steal a record-breaking $81 million from Bangladesh's centralbank.

Cyberattacks are at the top of regulators' concerns in the U.S.as well. Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump's nominee tohead the Federal Reserve, said at a confirmation hearing Tuesdaythat cybersecurity may be the biggest risk that U.S. banksface.

From: Bloomberg News

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