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In
the Philippines, the central bank was crafting more regulations
to help banks and other financial institutions fend off cyber
heists and minimize damage after any systems breach, a senior
official said.
The actions come after Vietnam's Tien Phong Bank said earlier
this week it had interrupted an attempted cyber heist that
involved the use of fraudulent SWIFT messages, the same
technique at the heart of February's massive theft from the
Bangladesh central bank. [L3N18C075]
The two attacks through SWIFT, used by about 11,000 banks and
institutions around the world, have sent tremors through the
global financial industry.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore "expects financial
institutions to implement strong controls in their IT systems as
set out in the MAS Technology Risk Management Guidelines", a
spokeswoman said in response to media queries.
"This includes maintaining a high level of security for their
critical IT systems, such as SWIFT."
Singapore's MAS would continue to monitor the security landscape
and threats faced by the financial industry and provide guidance
where necessary, the spokeswoman said.
Nestor Espenilla, the Philippines' central bank deputy governor
in charge of banking supervision, said cyber threats were
growing.
"That basically reminds us that there is absolutely no room for
complacency," he told reporters. "We consider it to be a very
serious threat that financial institutions should really be
preparing for."
Regulators were looking at requiring banks to immediately report
cyber crime to contain the threat and to ensure financial
institutions learn from each other, Espenilla said.
The additional measures would also elevate information
technology standards of banks to align them with international
norms, he said.
The central bank had also boosted its own defenses, he said.
About $81 million stolen from Bangladesh in the cyber heist went
to bank accounts in the Philippines and most remains missing.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Karen Lema; Editing by Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
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