London - A cyber attack on financial markets played out in a historic London hall late yesterday in a “war game” simulation designed to test the City’s defences against online saboteurs.
Dozens of bankers, regulators and government officials gathered in Plaisterers’ Hall in the heart of the City to assess how London would cope with a bombardment of disruptions, such as a major attack on computer systems hitting stock exchanges and unfolding on social media.
Beyond the historic home of the plastering industry and a venue for conferences, hundreds more people took part from their offices in the test, dubbed “Waking Shark II”.
Simulations focused on wholesale markets and how well banks and firms communicated and co-ordinated with authorities and each other.
The exercise, one of the largest of its kind in the world, followed a similar large-scale simulation in New York this year dubbed “Quantum Dawn 2” and come amid heightened fears over the threat from hacking and cyber attacks.
“Hacking is now widespread and the attackers range from the intellectually curious through to sophisticated nation states, the targets range from safety-critical processing systems through to price-sensitive deal data,” Stephen Bonner, a partner in KPMG’s information protection and business resilience team, said. “This is a good opportunity to iron out any flaws now, before our cyber defences are tested in anger.”
The London event was being co-ordinated by the Bank of England, the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority and followed a similar exercise two years ago.
Regulators and companies are growing increasingly concerned about the threat of cyber crime to the banking system, including the impact of co-ordinated online assaults or hacking attacks on specific lenders.
One unidentified London-listed company incurred losses of £800 million (R13.2 billion) in a cyber attack several years ago, according to British security services.
Andrew Wingfield, a partner at law firm SJ Berwin, said the outcome of Waking Shark II would influence future regulation. – Reuters