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European Central Bank tells banks to step up defences against nation-state attacks

The European Central Bank is warning banks of possible Russia-linked cyber attack amid the rising crisis with Ukraine.

The European Central Bank is warning banks of possible Russia-linked cyber attack amid the rising crisis with Ukraine and is inviting them to step up defenses.

The news was reported by Reuters, citing two unnamed sources. The ECB pointed out that addressing cybersecurity is a top priority for the European agency.

“The European Central Bank is telling euro zone banks zone to step up their defences against cyber attacks, also in the context of geopolitical tensions such as the stand-off between Russia and Ukraine, the ECB’s top supervisor said on Thursday.” reported Reuters.

ECB warned that the rising risk from cyber attacks begun in 2020.

“We are asking [banks] to strengthen their cyber regime measures and look at a potential increase in attacks and the danger of these attacks going forward,” Andrea Enria, chair of the European Central Bank supervisory board, told a news conference last week. “We’ll also flag the attention of banks in relation to the potential worsening of global tensions that could indeed trigger more attacks.”

The European Central Bank remarks on the importance of training the staff on cyber threats, the central bank has also been running specific cyber drills to simulate cyber attacks against their infrastructure.

Enria explained that European banking institutions need more cybersecurity experts.

Enria told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach that ECB is putting “more and more attention on the ability of banks to ensure their security.”

“It’s a difficult area,” he said. “We are putting increasing attention to these areas and indeed we expect banks to strengthen their defenses.”

Enria remarked on the role of the ECB of warning banks of attacks that escalate due to potential worsening of global tensions that could indeed trigger more attacks.

In January, the New York Department of Financial Services warned financial institutions of retaliatory cyber attacks in response to US sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.

Below my interview at AlJazeera on the risks of cyberattacks on European Banks.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, European Central Bank)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.

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