Information sharing is essential to fight financial cybercrime



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Latin American countries should have rules that require banks to report cyberattacks, said David Schwartz, president and CEO of the Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA).

Being informed is the best way to protect yourself from very "sophisticated" criminals that will cost the global financial sector about $ 600 billion this year, Schwartz said in an interview with Efe at the same time. occasion of the CELAES conference to be held in Miami on October 29th and 30th.

Organized by FIBA ​​and the Latin American Federation of Banks (Felaban), the conference will bring together some 600 international banking officials from 35 countries and international specialists in the fight against what Schwartz does not hesitate to qualify as "pandemic".

In That 2018, the problem of cyberattacks against the financial sector as solutions will be approached from different angles, said the president of FIBA, for whom the threat of this type of criminals for Latin American banks is a "very serious problem".

A study by the Organization of American States (OAS) indicates that at least nine out of ten banking entities in the region have experienced "cyber incidents" over the last year.

Further information in the report published at the end of September indicates that 37 per cent of banks in the region have been effectively attacked and that 39 per cent of incidents are not reported, although in case of banking entities. larger size the incidence drops to 19%.

Schwartz recalls that in Mexico, at the beginning of the year, a wave of attacks affected entities such as Bancomex and the AXA insurer. In Chile and Peru, this type of criminal prosecution has also been registered in recent months.

When asked to make a comparison with the United States, he states: "We have not seen as many attacks here as in Latin America".

And in this country, banks must report the attacks to the authorities within 90 days, says Schwartz, who says it would be good if similar rules are applied in Latin America because the sharing of information help each other the entities prepare for what can happen to them.

The manager believes that failure to report attacks with the argument that this would damage the reputation of the entity in question is contrary to the common good.

In his view, the Latin American banking sector, taken as a whole, is not well prepared for the threat of hackers. "There are no resources or elements of the same level of sophistication" as those of criminals, he warns.

In the case of Mexico, he mentions that at the time of the attacks at the beginning of the year, there was not even a group specialized in government cyberattacks.

The FIBA ​​President recognizes that no one can be 100% protected against cybercrime because criminals "always move two steps", but that does not mean that it is not no need to take action to reduce the risk of exposure and damage. .

"Organizations have no choice but to invest wisely in technology and staff to stop this pandemic," he said.

Cybersecurity experts from several countries, including the United States and Israel, participate in the leading conference in this area.

The keynote address of the conference will be led by Ed Cabrera, who was part of a US-based cyber security and defense intelligence group and now heads these same fields in a private company.

The program includes sessions on risk control and management, intelligence sharing and collaboration, cyber security in Latin America, digital banking, cryptocurrency and blockchain, anti-cybercrime legislation, artificial intelligence and big data, among other topics.

Several experts from leading private and public sector institutions will speak at Celaes 2018.

In addition to representatives of the Bank of America, the Federal Reserve Bank, the investigative police (FBI ), secret services and other US government agencies, the conference will bring together leaders of banks such as HSBC and BBVA Bancomer, as well as international organizations such as the OAS or the Internet Corporation (ICANN) .

The conference is sponsored by leading global institutions in the field of cybersecurity.

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