🥷The European Central Bank Conducted a Cyber Stress Test on 109 Regional Financial Organizations

🥷The European Central Bank Conducted a Cyber Stress Test on 109 Regional Financial Organizations

The results revealed strengths and weaknesses of European banks in the face of a potential cyberattack.

➡️ Why? — According to the IBM report on data breach costs for 2023, the financial sector ranks second globally in terms of losses due to cyber incidents, only behind the healthcare sector. Financial organizations experienced average losses of approximately $5.9 million USD per cyber incident. Banks and other financial institutions lose money due to:
🔸 ransom payments to prevent the disclosure of stolen data

🔸 restoring infrastructure after ransomware attacks

🔸 in some cases, direct financial losses.


As a result, 82% of European Chief Risk Officers (CROs) consider cybersecurity to be the greatest risk to their businesses in 2024.

➡️ When? — Although the test was conducted in January, the results have only recently been processed.

➡️ What did the test involve? — It was presented as a questionnaire ➕ request for banking documentation. It included a simulated scenario where all preventive measures failed and a cyberattack severely impacted the main system databases. Thus, the test focused on how banks would respond to a cyberattack and how they would recover rather than on how they would prevent it.

➡️ For deeper performance assessment, 28 of the 109 banks were selected to undergo a real IT recovery test, and supervisory authorities visited them on-site.

The test results of this test will be included in the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP) of 2024... Being prepared means being protected.

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