The 60% increase in cross-border collaboration was driven by opportunistic threats during the pandemic, reports a global cyber intelligence sharing community.

Between Aug 2020 and Aug 2021, financial firms that were part of a global cyber intelligence-sharing platform for the industry increased their collaboration by 60%, driven by growing supply chain and ransomware threats.

Large-scale threats had resulted in record-breaking peaks of intelligence sharing across all regions served by the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC): North America; Latin America; Europe, UK, Middle East and Africa; and the Asia Pacific region.

According the platform’s CEO, Steven Silberstein, sector-wide global collaboration in the industry has become a risk management imperative: “Intelligence and best practice sharing across our community and platforms has reached new heights, spurred by the high-profile events of the last 12 months. We commend the members who go above and beyond to protect the financial system at large.”

Sector-wide global collaboration

Intelligence sharing by the larger financial institutions based in markets with stricter and more comprehensive regulation helps strengthen the cybersecurity programs of smaller or less resourced firms around the world. Additionally, the intel can help the industry at large detect and prevent cyberattacks.

According to Fred Gibbins, Chief Information Security Officer, American Express: “We believe it is our critical responsibility to share intelligence and best practices with our peers to help the industry to protect and defend against emerging cyber threats.”

Banco Falabella Chile’s Head of Cybersecurity, Juan Carrasco, said: “By monitoring attacks in Argentina and Brazil, we were able to predict and thwart a cyberattack in Chile. This attests to the power of cross-border intelligence sharing in mitigating cyber risk.”

Similarly, IAG’s Threat Analytic Cell Manager, Craig Hall, noted: “Recently, we were able to identify a threat actor who methodically attacked Australian financial institutions in alphabetical order throughout the day. By sharing the criminal’s tactics, members throughout the region knew when they were likely to get hit and were therefore able to defend against attacks.”

Finally, UBS’ Cyber Threat Intelligence Regional Lead Corsin Camichel believed that “sharing intelligence and best practices with our peers and regional counterparts is fundamental to staying ahead of emerging cyber threats.”

The firms quoted here are some of the FS-ISAC members recognized for their intelligence sharing efforts this year.