Cyberattacks are a serious threat to the financial infrastructure
News On the whole, the financial infrastructure in Sweden functions well. It consists of safe and efficient systems. However, it has vulnerabilities and risks that could lead to disruptions in the financial system. This is a conclusion of the annual Financial Infrastructure Report for 2017.
Above all, two operational risks need to be managed to increase the security and efficiency of the financial infrastructure:
- Cyberattacks comprise a serious threat to the financial infrastructure. In recent years, serious attacks have been made against financial institutions and cyber threats are therefore receiving increasing attention from authorities and other participants in the financial system, both in Sweden and internationally. As a consequence, all infrastructure systems that the Riksbank oversees have worked on strengthening their resilience against cyberattacks over the last year. In 2017, the Riksbank will monitor the systems' continued work on cybersecurity, in particular the growing trend for systems' IT operations to be outsourced to external suppliers and the impact of this on resilience to cyberattacks.
- The operational risk in the financial system will be increased until Euroclear Sweden has replaced its IT system for securities settlement, the VPC system. Euroclear Sweden therefore needs to ensure that adjustments of the existing VPC system to new regulations do not affect the continuity or reliability of daily operations.
The Financial Infrastructure Report
The Financial Infrastructure Report presents the Riksbank's assessment of the stability and efficiency of Sweden's financial infrastructure. The report also highlights the risks and vulnerabilities that the Riksbank deems may lead to disruptions in the financial system. This year's report takes into account data available until 31 March 2017.