BSH: Cyber attacks on the banking sector in 2023 failed

2024-04-25 07:08:00, Ekonomi CNA

BSH: Cyber ??attacks on the banking sector in 2023 failed

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The banking sector showed improved ability to respond to cyber attacks last year.

According to the annual report of the Bank of Albania, due to global geopolitical developments and the active positioning of the Republic of Albania towards these developments, even during the year 2023, critical sectors, including the banking system and beyond, the financial system, have been under threats ongoing cyber escalations.

This situation was accompanied by an increase in the level of alarm and preventive measures, in direct proportion to the threats.

However, the Bank of Albania notes that the financial system has carefully managed the continuous and diverse attacks, which have had as their ultimate goal the damage to the image and trust of financial institutions and, especially, banks in the general public, more than for the purpose of obtaining monetary values.

Consequently, the central bank points out that cyber attacks have not been able to successfully fulfill their purpose.

During the year 2023, the Denial of Service attacks (DoS - Denial of Service) observed in the third quarter are singled out, which also targeted second-tier banks, with the aim of interrupting the services offered by their websites.

While in the fourth quarter of 2023, there were several smishing attempts (imitation of official bank websites), which also proved unsuccessful, thanks to the measures taken by the banks and various customer awareness campaigns.

Also, the Bank of Albania emphasizes that there is an increased attention of customers in cases of remote access to bank services, and several attempts to steal their credentials have been identified and reported by bank customers themselves.

The Bank of Albania announces that it has strengthened the level of communication and interaction especially with the banking sector and the responsible regulatory authorities of the field, increasing the focus and attention in this direction, especially in the process of on-site inspections.

In this context, with the aim of updating the regulatory framework with information security developments and improving supervisory processes, the Bank of Albania is continuing with the process of revising the regulatory framework according to the standards and best practices of the European Union.

This process, according to the Bank of Albania, will be finalized with the cooperation of the banking industry, with the aim of including the best market practices.

Since 2022, the banking sector has faced a wave of cyberattacks against critically important sectors in the Republic of Albania, including the banking system.

If in 2022, some of the attacks on the banking sector were partially successful, creating problems for bank customers, for 2023 the banking sector seems to have better managed the risks associated with cyber attacks./ Monitor Magazine