The report is a first look on the lessons learnt from the impact of pandemic on financial stability.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) reported on Tuesday that after the employees began working from home, financial businesses may need to beef up their defences in the face of numerous cyberattacks.
The FSB, which coordinates financial rules for the G20 group of nations, stated that after economies went into lockdown to fight COVID-19 — remote working has opened up new opportunities for cyber attacks. Working From Home (WFH) is predicted to remain in the financial services industry and beyond.
The FSB said in a report to G20 ministers and central banks, “Most cyber frameworks did not envisage a scenario of near-universal remote working and the exploitation of such a situation by cyber threat actors,”
According to the FSB, COVID-19 was the first significant test of crucial financial rules enacted in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008, and most parts of the system performed admirably.
Although lockdown restrictions are loosening, financial institutions have assured staff that they will be permitted to work from home several days a week on a permanent basis, and the rest of their time spent in the office.
FSB said that phishing, malware, and ransomware attacks increased from less than 5,000 per week in February 2020 to more than 200,000 per week in late April 2021.