IT security - Results of the bank stress test on cyber risks in the summer
The ECB Banking Supervision intends to publish the results of its first stress test on cyber risks for banks in the summer. The European Central Bank (ECB) announced in Frankfurt that 109 directly supervised financial institutions will be tested in 2024 to see how they react to a cyber attack and how they can restore their business operations.
"In the stress test scenario, a successful cyberattack causes disruption to the banks' day-to-day business. Banks then test the measures they have in place to respond to a cyberattack and restore business operations," explained the ECB. "The supervisor then assesses the banks' ability to deal with such a scenario."
In-depth examination of 28 financial institutions
According to the ECB, 28 institutions will be scrutinized more closely as part of the test. They must provide additional information on how they dealt with the cyber attack. This sample includes banks with different business models from various geographical areas, the ECB announced. The aim is to "obtain a meaningful picture of the banking system in the euro area ".
The ECB has been directly supervising the leading banks in the eurozone since November 2014. These are currently 113 institutions, including from Germany: Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, DZ Bank and Dekabank as well as Germany 's largest savings bank, Hamburg-based Haspa, plus Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank (Apo-Bank), Volkswagen Bank and various Landesbanken (BayernLB, LBBW, Helaba, Nord LB).
More cyberattacks again recently
The ECB wants to take a closer look where banks hand over IT processes to third-party providers in order to save money, as Anneli Tuominen, a member of the ECB Banking Supervision Supervisory Board, announced in November: "This does not necessarily go hand in hand with good risk management." IT or cloud providers are "certainly an issue that we need to look at more closely".
The banking supervisors had been alarmed by the recent increase in the number of attacks on banks' IT systems. Tuominen said in November that so far there had not been such a serious attack that individual institutions or even the entire banking system had been destabilized. However, she warned: "A successful attack is possible at any time."
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- The 109 banks being tested in the ECB's cyber risk stress test are spread across various countries within Europe, including Frankfurt, Germany.
- The results of the ECB Banking Supervision's first stress test on cyber risks for banks in Europe will be published in the summer of 2024.
- The test aims to evaluate the ability of banks, such as Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in Frankfurt, to restore their operations following a successful cyber attack.
- The IT security of banks that outsource their processes to third-party providers will be scrutinized more closely in the stress test, as highlighted by ECB Banking Supervision Supervisory Board member Anneli Tuominen.
- The recent increase in cyber attacks on banks' IT systems has prompted the ECB to conduct a thorough examination of the banks' cyber risk management.
- The euroregion's banking supervision will utilize bank stress tests to assess the resilience of banks in the face of cyber risks, in an effort to maintain the stability of the European financial system.
- The ECB has established a stress test scenario in which a cyber attack causes disruption to a bank's daily operations, forcing the bank to respond and restore its business operations.
Source: www.stern.de
