## Cybersecurity Threats Call for a Global Response

_IMF Blog, January 13, 2020_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: David Lipton
- Published: January 13, 2020

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### Incident example and urgency
- Operation Taiex (Last March) led to the arrest of the gang leader behind the Carbanak and Cobalt malware attacks on over 100 financial institutions worldwide.
- The operation included the Spanish national police, Europol, FBI, the Romanian, Moldovan, Belarusian, and Taiwanese authorities, as well as private cybersecurity companies.
- Investigators found out that hackers were operating in at least 15 countries.
- Observation: cybercrime moves quickly and collaborates rapidly across borders; the response must match that speed and global integration.

### How to best work together — international and private-sector roles
- Private sector: developing technical and risk management standards, convening information-sharing forums, and spending considerable resources.
- International bodies: the Group of 7 Cyber Experts group and the Basel Committee are creating awareness and identifying sound practices for financial sector supervisors.
- Conclusion: existing efforts are important but insufficient from a global perspective; more coordination is needed.

### Four priority areas for international action
- First, develop a greater understanding of the risks:
  - Better data on threats and on the impact of successful attacks to understand how they might impact financial stability.
- Second, improve collaboration on threat intelligence, incident reporting and best practices in resilience and response:
  - Improve information sharing between the private and public sector.
  - Reduce barriers to banks reporting issues to financial supervisors and law enforcement.
  - Ensure seamless communication among different public agencies within a country.
  - Improve information sharing between countries.
- Third, achieve greater consistency in regulatory approaches:
  - Countries currently have different standards, regulations, and terminology; reducing inconsistency will facilitate more communication.
- Fourth, prepare for attacks with crisis preparation and response protocols:
  - Develop protocols at both the national and cross-border level to respond and recover operations as soon as possible.
  - Use crisis exercises to reveal gaps and weaknesses in processes and decision making.

### Connecting the global dots — regional and cross-border protocols
- Cyberattacks can originate from anywhere or many places at once; crisis response protocols must be articulated within regions and globally.
- Relevant authorities need to know “whom to call” during a crisis, in nearby and also in faraway countries.
- Small or developing countries face particular challenges and need international attention:
  - Many rely on financial services or correspondent lines provided by global banks for financial connection.
  - Developing cross-border response protocols will help countries understand roles in a crisis and ensure a coordinated response.
- The Group of 7 countries has made an excellent start, but efforts need to be broadened to each and every country.

### Role of the IMF and partners
- The IMF can raise concerns of emerging-market and developing countries to a global level due to its broad representation.
- It is in the interest of advanced economies to work with other countries to share information, coordinate actions, and build capacity because attacks can start anywhere.
- The IMF works with countries to build capacity: developing skills and expertise needed to recognize and effectively counter cybersecurity threats.
- The IMF’s international partners are doing the same, and the IMF works regularly with an array of stakeholders in the public and private sector.

### Risks to financial development and the need to preserve trust
- Successful cyberattacks have the potential to hamper financial development by creating distrust, especially if personal and financial data are compromised.
- To reap benefits of new technologies that can develop markets and expand financial inclusion, it is necessary to preserve trust and ensure the security of information and communications technologies.
- Final note: with cybersecurity, there is always more to be done simply because the pace of change is breathtakingly fast.

*David Lipton, January 13, 2020 — Cybersecurity Threats Call for a Global Response*

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## References

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2020/01/13/blog-cybersecurity-threats-call-for-a-global-response_