Information sharing seen as key to combat cybercrime

The sharing of information will be key for Latin American banks to successfully fight rising cybercrime in the coming years.

Banks have been reluctant in the past to disclose cybercrime attacks due to the risk of reputational damage but that is no longer an option due to the scale of the cyberthreat problem, says David Schwartz, head of the Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA).

The mindset of bankers has gradually changed to "We do need to work together" because the threat is now so serious, he adds.

At least 37% of all banks in Latin America and the Caribbean were last year subject to successful cyberattacks, according to a recent report from the Organization of American States (OAS). The cost for banks in terms of recovery from and response to digital security incidents reached US$809mn, the report shows.

The pace of growth in cybercrimes against the region's banks has accelerated in the past few years and banks' reluctance to disclose such crimes have made it difficult to pin down exactly how big the problem really is, says Schwartz, who added that the OAS report was a positively development in terms of shedding light on the size of the threat.

THE WAKE-UP CALL

Cyberattacks in Chile and Mexico this marked the first time that major attacks became public in the region and served as a "wake-up call" for other banking sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to Schwartz.

Cybercriminals tend to focus their attacks on institutions in countries and regions with relatively weak security, and Latin America and the Caribbean is "definitely vulnerable," Schwartz says ahead of the CELAES financial cybersecurity conference to be held in Miami on October 29-30.

The conference is part of efforts from FIBA and Latin American banking federation Felaban to prepare the region's banking executives to face the cybersecurity problem.

Education is key in the fight against cybercrime and the conferences allow for the sharing of insight and best-practices among bankers, regulators, tech experts and cybersecurity firms, says Schwartz, who believes the financial system should be viewed as a national security risk and protected as such by governments.

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