Cyber attacks among biggest risks to financial stability, Bank chief warns
The governor of the Bank of England has warned that cyber attacks are among the biggest risks to financial stability in the UK.
Major events such as the attacks on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Marks & Spencer (M&S) this year have highlighted the importance of these risks.
The bank’s Financial Stability Report (FSR), published on Tuesday, revealed that a record number of firms responding to the survey cited cyber attacks as among the biggest risks to the UK financial system.
Andrew Bailey, the bank’s chairman, said: “If you look at the league table of risks post-financial crisis and ask the question of which risk has emerged most sharply in the league table in that period, I’m afraid cyber will be right up there for me.
“It’s never going to go away. I’m afraid we have to be very frank and forthright about this. “You can’t reduce cyber risk to just take it off the table.
“We have to be very realistic about the fact that as we improve defense, and as companies improve defense, bad actors are also evolving.
“Our approach to the financial sector is to say that this is critically important, that we need to continue to work together on this… because I’m afraid it will continue to evolve.
“The disintegration of the world economy, the presence of bad actors out there… we know who they are; it has a connection to cyber attacks.”
The report revealed that increasing political tensions around the world are associated with an increase in cyber attacks.
Additionally, new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) lead to new risks and can make the attackers’ job easier.
The warning comes after JLR suffered a severe cyber attack earlier this year; This attack forced JLR to pause production of its cars for more than a month, resulting in a costly recovery.
The incident had a wider impact on the UK economy and was cited as one of the key factors affecting economic growth in the third quarter.
A wave of cyber attacks this year targeted retailers such as M&S and the Co-op as well as an airport software provider, causing significant flight delays.
