Chainalysis, a New York-based cyber security start-up, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) on collaborating to fight online crime. Chainalysis aims to change “negative headlines where digital currencies have been connected to fraud and cybercrime” and is tracking digital identities on the blockchain. The start-up says its software […]
From the very first coins changing hands in 700 BC, through to the Bank of England pioneering the first use of a pre-printed form – or cheque – in 1717, and the emergence of credit cards in the mid 20th century, how we pay for goods and services has continued to evolve. We now face a cashless society
Blockchain has the potential to further disrupt banking in the way that we know it today, transform traditional interbank and even peer-to-peer payments, open up opportunities to replace existing mechanisms for the exchange of financial information, and how customer records are stored and processed.
Contrary to popular belief, the financial sector is now far more aware and better prepared for cyber attacks. The Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report, issued 1 July, states that threat awareness has grown exponentially and the sector is leading efforts to combat cybercrime. Perhaps this isn’t surprising given 90% of large businesses across the sector had suffered a malicious attack over the past year. But what is worrying is that the financial sector is falling into a familiar trap: by focusing so much on defence, it has failed to make provisions for an effective recovery
With reports suggesting hackers have siphoned off up to $1 billion from 100 banks across 30 countries as part of a targeted attack, there are heightened concerns over the cyber-threat facing the banking sector. Supply chains are a potential weak link and banks have been stepping up their pressure on vendors and suppliers to do more to protect themselves from online intrusion.
Banks will always be targeted by criminals and cyber attacks have become their most vulnerable attack surface. It isn’t simply about technology. It extends through people and process, and reaches from the central infrastructure all the way out to end users conducting online banking or financial transactions on laptops, tablets or smart phones. Because banks and financial firms have very large and sophisticated systems, this means that end-to-end security is notoriously difficult
The Biometrics Institute, Mobey Forum and Natural Security Alliance have launcehd a cross-association collaboration to promote the use of biometrics in digital services. The organisations plan to have their inaugural meeting, on biometrics for non-government services, in Paris on 1 July.
US post-trade utility the DTCC is reporting that almost half of the respondents in its most recent Systemic Risk Barometer Study cited cyber security as their top concern, making it the single largest fear and doubling its rating compared to just 12 months ago.
Banks need to recognise that building a wall to keep cyber security threats out will not work. With breaches from both sides of the wall inevitable, financial institutions would do better to pare down their activities and focus on defending their core assets – including intellectual property and transactional systems.
In a joint international operation Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre seized servers said to have controlled the Ramnit botnet that had infected 3.2 million computers internationally. The operation involved investigators from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK – which led the operation – along with partners from private industry.
Protecting your banking infrastructure from cybercriminals is one of the toughest IT challenges in banking. It keeps getting harder, even though banks are working tirelessly to protect both customers and assets. Attacks are growing in size, and new developments such as the Internet of Things mean attack surfaces are growing, as well as the number of endpoints that can be used to launch attacks.
The value of all cryptocurrency transactions will more than half this year, falling from $71 billion in 2014 to just over $30 billion. The decline was attributable to the combined impact of exchange collapses, Bitcoin theft and regulatory concerns.
A range of social, political, cultural and economic factors drives cyber attacks. How well banking and financial institutions understand the drivers for an attack and how effectively they respond in the 48 hours following the discovery of an attack has a major effect on the resultant impact.
Bitcoin market Netagio has launched credit and debit card payment options, as part of a push to make it easier to buy and sell Bitcoin with pounds, euros and US dollars. The exchange, which was founded in 2013, is seeking to popularise the alternative currency and improve its controversial public image.
Digital and alternative currencies, including Bitcoin, can now be used for transactions in California, following the implementation of bill AB129 on 1 January 2015. The new bill is a step forward for cryptocurrencies which have faced tough opposition and scrutiny from global regulators. However, serious doubts about the safety of digital currencies have been voiced by banks.
Following its success during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping frenzy this year, alternative currency Bitcoin is gaining popularity and could be poised for major growth in 2015. But the currency still has a long way to go before it catches up with rivals such as PayPal, Visa and MasterCard.
Earlier this month, the Ecuadorian Government announced its plans to introduce a digital currency, the first of its kind globally. In a country where 40% of citizens don’t have a bank account according to The Economist, this has the potential to transform banking and allow companies to gain access to those without a bank account for the first time
Fraud and financial crime are growing substantially in their nature and complexity as we continue to evolve into an ever more connected world. New technologies, particularly the spread of mobile devices, have opened up different avenues of attack for technically sophisticated and well organised gangs of fraudsters and criminals. The social and economic costs of organised crime in the UK alone are estimated to be £24bn, of which £8.9bn are associated with fraud.
Greater information sharing and closer collaboration between the public and private sectors are needed to combat cyber-attacks, which are now the principal concern of the financial services industry, according to the DTCC. A top priority should be the creation of global industry working groups to engage with national regulators on the development of cyber-security regulations that address the real-time and evolving nature of cyber-threats.
Besides mounting enthusiasm for Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, momentum is gathering to develop the infrastructure needed to turn what some see as a technology into a universally accepted currency.
When a new payment system such as Bitcoin arises it tends to be successful “in areas where a need is not being met”, Gottfried Leibbrandt, Swift chief executive told delegates yesterday. He said his fascination with Bitcoin – “both a currency and an innovation” – had not changed in the past 12 months.
The news last month (June) that the Luuuk malware had snared its first victim, an unnamed European bank, has again highlighted the magnitude of the challenge facing the banking sector. While the reported theft of €500,000 during the course of a week certainly does not break any records, the discovery of what is believed to be a variant of the feared Zeus malware, is just the latest in a line of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks
“The fastest growing national security threat facing the [US], which also happens to face the financial services industry, is cyber-espionage, cyber-crime and cyber-terrorism” according to a former deputy and acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency, speaking at the SifmaTech conference in New York.
A major new effort spearheaded by the Bank of England and the UK Treasury has been launched to shore up the cyber defences of the UK financial services industry, amid rising concerns that testing has exposed serious unaddressed weaknesses.
As the number of cybercrime incidents increases, financial institutions and their corporate customers should take renewed steps to protect their data – including using tokenisation and hosted payments pages, according to a new report by Chase Paymentech.
Bitcoin is the poster child of the cryptocurrency world, but it’s not alone. Michael Mainelli and Bob McDowell take a look at the real-world implications of the rise of AltCoins
Despite the high profile media scandals surrounding the demise of the Mt Gox exchange and the Silk Road trading website, Bitcoin is evolving rapidly and will soon present a better, more stable and accountable alternative to the fiat currencies most of us trust and use every day, according to Mark Lamb, chief executive of London-based Bitcoin exchange Coinfloor.
With a revolution in consumer payments happening at the point-of-sale, online and increasingly through the mobile channel, there is a need and an appetite for change across every aspect of the payments industry.
Bitcoin, gamification and Personal Financial Management are “generating more heat than light” in debates about the future of retail banking and banks should not be distracted from other major challenges including digital channels and legacy transformation.
There are two sides to every coin, but with Bitcoin those sides simply could not be farther apart. Its promise is extraordinary: for those afraid of inflation, it is gold redux, while for those who hate exchange rates, it is a way to pay internationally. For merchants it is a way of avoiding high transaction fees and for former Presidential hopeful Ron Paul, it is the destruction of the US Dollar.
A digital currency called Ven is poised to give alternative currency poster child Bitcoin a run for its virtual money.
Bitcoin is here to stay and will continue to grow, according to experts speaking on separate panels at Money2020 in Las Vegas.
Banks should report all cases of fraud to law enforcement agencies and punishments should be substantially increased, according to a committee of MPs.
Financial institutions have been battling waves of large distributed denial of service attacks since early 2012. Many of these attacks have been the work of a group called the Qassam Cyber Fighters, which until recently posted weekly updates on Pastebin about the reasons behind its attacks.
for a growing number of people, wary of the debasing of currencies through quantitative easing, alternatives such as Bitcoin are becoming more popular.
