Bank of Greece : Meeting of the Coordinating Committee for the Prevention and Management of Cyber-attacks

The newly set up Coordinating Committee for the Prevention and Management of Cyber-attacks in the Banking Sector met recently at the Bank of Greece. The Committee was established following threats of a dDOS-type cyber-attack against Greek banks in November 2015 and brings together, as joint coordinators, the Bank of Greece, the Electronic Crime Unit of the Hellenic Police and the National Computer Emergency and Response Team (CERT), and, as members, banks and telecommunication service providers. That threatened attack, of an unprecedented size by Greek standards, was addressed successfully, and the expertise gained has been shared with competent authorities of other countries.

The meeting, held against the backdrop of a surge of cyber-attacks across the world, identified a need to further exploit synergies within the Committee. Also highlighted were issues referring to the effective use of the procedures that the Bank of Greece, as the authority responsible for banking supervision, established as early as in 2006 for the reporting of security incidents, or similar procedures and mechanisms at the European level in which the Bank of Greece participates, as well as of the information channels available from government bodies.

Lastly, it was decided that the Committee is to meet on a regular basis to evaluate and address any issues that could potentially pose risks to the effective shielding of the banking sector against cyber-attacks.