Cyber attacks on UK financial services sector rise fivefold in 2018

Financial services firms in the UK saw a fivefold rise in data breaches in 2018 compared to the previous year, according to figures provided by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to the Financial Times (online only, £). Companies reported 145 breaches to the FCA last year, up from 25 in 2017, with retail banks seeing the sharpest rise. The increase in reported attacks is partly explained by the introduction of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) last May, which requires businesses to identify and report cyber attacks within 72 hours. UK Finance recently announced the setting up of a Financial Sector Cyber Collaboration Centre to help the industry respond to the threat of cyber attacks in a faster, more coordinated and effective way.

Meanwhile Jeremy Fleming, head of the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), has called for better cyber-security practices in the telecoms industry in a speech at an event in Singapore today (BBC News, online only). Mr Fleming also said that there was a need for a globally agreed system of ethics and standards for operating in cyberspace, and that the UK’s future security will depend on working closely with international allies on this issue (The Independent, online only).

Source: UK Finance
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