‘Urgent’ need for City firms to collaborate over cybercrime
FIRMS IN the financial and professional services sector must collaborate to protect themselves against the threat of cyber crime, according to a new report
The report published by TheCityUK, which represents the UK-based professional services industry, and Marsh, the global insurance broker and risk adviser, argues that firms across the financial and related professional services industry need to take urgent action on cyber risk.
There were a reported 2.5 million cyber crimes in the UK last year, the majority of which related to various forms of fraud, with the loss typically borne by the financial sector.
A spokesman said: “City firms have the data, money and profile to attract the full range of attackers including those seeking to undermine the financial system.”
The report said that reputation and reliability are shared assets and firms must work collectively to reinforce the financial system’s resilience.
The report – ‘Cyber and the City’ – recognises that significant efforts that have already been made by UK financial authorities to encourage firms to take action on cyber risk.
Chris Cummings, the chief executive of TheCityUK, said: “Cyber-crime isn’t a problem of the future, it’s a very real threat today.
“There is no silver-bullet to manage it, but there are practical steps the industry, and the customers we serve, can take to ensure we’re well protected against attack. Cyber hygiene should be as commonplace as locking the windows and doors when you leave the house.
“It is essential for the industry and the continued attractiveness of the UK as a safe place to do business that we tackle this issue head on and make the UK a centre of excellence for cyber security.”
Mark Weil, the chief executive of Marsh UK & Ireland, said, “Financial services are a high-value target for cyber-crime. In the end, most firms are going to need to spend money on cyber defences. That’s going to make for difficult choices on how much and in what they invest.”
Cyber and the City provides a series of practical recommendations for individual firms and the wider industry to improve their cyber resilience, working in partnership with Government, regulators, supervisors, police and intelligence services. The strategy includes ensuring that cyber risk is a key part of the firm’s strategy, investment cases, acquisitions and appraisals.
Cyber-crime isn’t a problem of the future, it’s a very real threat today Chris Cummings, chief executive of TheCityUK, which published the new report.