The boss of one of the largest banks in the United Kingdom said that the threat of the cyber attacks “keeps me awake at night”.
Ian Stuart, the CEO of HSBC UK, said that cybersecurity was “at the top of the agenda” for his banking group, and that the treatment of vulnerabilities was a “huge” expenditure for the sector as a whole.
He said, “It worries me – we can be attacked and we are attacked all the time.”
Mr. Stuart and other bosses of the bank spoke to the Committee of Treasury of the Communes which has taken evidence on a series of problems affecting the industry, including how vulnerable it is to breakdowns and cyber attacks.
In March, it appeared nine major banks and construction companies operating in the United Kingdom accumulated at least 803 hours – the 33 -day equivalent – technological breakdowns in the past two years.
In recent weeks, cooperative retailers and Marks and Spencer have experienced serious disruptions after being targeted by pirates.
Lisa Forte, of the Red Goat cybersecurity company, told BBC News that Mr. Stuart had made “an incredibly important point”.
“Cyberattacks are increasing both in number and severity,” she said.
“Criminals monetize attacks more effectively and we are now at a time when it is not the case if companies will undergo an attack.”
Stuart said his banking group spent hundreds of millions of pounds improving his computer systems.
“I think the amount of monetary banks – we all – will be put in our systems is enormous,” he said.
“The defense mechanisms you put are absolutely essential.”
In all his group, he declared that they treated 1000 payments per second while making 8000, he modifies and updated each week.
Professor Oli Buckley, an expert in cybersecurity at the University of Loughborough, said that cyber attacks against financial institutions were “relentless” and “increasingly sophisticated”.
“Ian Stuart is certainly right to highlight cybersecurity as a major concern for the banking sector, but recent retail events have been a brutal reminder that it can have an impact on each sector,” he added.
“This goes beyond the simple protection of customer data, it is a question of maintaining confidence throughout the financial system. A violation is not only risking individual accounts; it can kiss through markets, reputation, public confidence and beyond.”
Barclays, Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander, Natwest, Danske Bank, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank also provided information to the Committee.
Between January 2023 and February of this year, they experienced 158 computer failures with each other.
Vim Maru, CEO of Barclays, addressed the deputies about the Barclays breakdown which occurred on the day of the January remuneration for many people.
Serious IT problems have affected online banking services for several days, have left some people unable to move at home – and could lead to the bank’s remuneration payments of 12.5 million pounds Sterling, according to a report.
Mr. Maru apologized to customers, saying that he was “deeply sorry for the disruption”. He said that there was no evidence that it had been caused by a cyber-incident or a malicious act.
Following the Barclays incident in January, around 1.2 million people in the United Kingdom were then affected by new bank breakdowns in February.
These problems have occurred in Lloyds, TSB, Nationwide and HSBC.
