FSA Tests Bank Readiness for Hackers, U.K. Olympic Travel Chaos

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-21/fsa-tests-bank-readiness-for-hackers-u-k-olympic-travel-chaos.html

By Ben Moshinsky
Bloomberg
November 21, 2011

U.K. banks face a day of disaster tomorrow, as part of a simulation led 
by the Financial Services Authority to test firms’ responses to a 
cyber-attack on payment systems and travel chaos during the London 2012 
Olympic Games.

The FSA will start the exercise at 8 a.m., contacting 87 firms. The 
drill will include a simulated computer-hacking attack on the financial 
system which disrupts communications and Internet access as well as 
wholesale- and retail-payment systems. The FSA will also test banks’ 
ability to deal with travel disruptions that leave employees unable to 
get to work. The Bank of England and U.K. Treasury will also take part.

“There are no passes or fails,” the watchdog said in an e-mailed 
statement. “The exercise is about firms assessing their business 
continuity systems and updating them where necessary and the authorities 
identifying areas for further attention.”

Five thousand bank employees battled against imaginary floods, 
“structural damage to office buildings” and “flying debris,” as part of 
the FSA’s 2009 exercise, according to the watchdog’s report on the 
results in February 2010. The regulator examined lenders’ emergency 
plans to handle severe weather conditions leading to power, travel and 
communication outages.

[...]

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