Hackers Probing the Financial System Show Reason to Worry 

Hackers are testing the financial system’s cyber defenses, and they can boast of some alarming success.

Let’s start with what we know. JPMorgan Chase & Co. says a breach of its computer systems exposed the personal information of 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. The intrusion lasted from June until sometime in August, so hackers had more than a month to nose around.

Even more worrisome is what we don’t know — about the intrusion at JPMorgan, the hackers who did it and the potential vulnerability of the entire financial system.

Threats like these keep banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, awake at night.

One thing we don’t know, according to James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, is how well big banks’ cyber defenses are working.

“What other weaknesses in bank cybersecurity are there that might allow other hacks?” Angel asks. “There’s a natural skepticism that this is the entire extent of the damage.”

Still, financial companies are losing ground to the hackers, according to a report by management-consulting firm Deloitte.

JPMorgan, in the bare description of what happened in its case, said no unusual customer fraud related to the digital breach had been detected.

JPMorgan has told consultants who are working with the bank that it saw signs the Russian government may have had a hand in the attack, according to three people familiar with the bank’s investigation.

Attacks by groups that have some kind of state support or direction have been on the rise for the past three years, says KPMG’s Bell.

 

Source: bloomberg-Hackers Probing the Financial System Show Reason to Worry

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