Financial companies do not master the basics of cyberspace: the British watchdog

LONDON (Reuters) – Financial companies have too much confidence in their ability to handle large IT projects and many have not yet mastered the basics of cyber defense, a senior regulator said Tuesday.

Breakdowns in banks such as TSB have left thousands of customers without banking services and UK lawmakers have opened an investigation into such incidents.

"Based on the data currently being collected by the FCA, we do not see an immediate end to the escalating IT and technology incidents that are affecting UK financial services," said Megan Butler, executive director of oversight of the FCA, Bloomberg. Event.

The supervisory body surveyed nearly 300 regulated companies between 2017 and 2018. Between the beginning of the year and the month of October, companies reported a 138% increase in technological breakdowns and 18% of cyber incidents.

Incident reporting is probably still a problem, with many incidents being linked to "excessive trust bias" in banks about managing major IT changes, Butler said.

"All the trends we are seeing at the moment suggest a growing threat to UK customers and financial markets, resulting in technological breakdowns and cyber attacks," Butler said.

When it comes to cyber attacks, FCA sees "serious vulnerabilities" in areas such as identifying key badets, information and detection, she said.

Many companies were still trying to master the basics of cyber, a third not performing regular cyber-badessments.

Boards of financial corporations need to have enough skills and understanding of technology issues, she said.