Financial Crime World

Cybercrime on the Rise in Greenland’s Banking Sector, Experts Warn

A Growing Threat in the Global Financial Sector

As the global financial sector continues to grapple with the growing threat of cyberattacks, authorities in Greenland are sounding the alarm about the increasing risk of online fraud and data breaches within the country’s banking system.

Alarming Statistics

According to recent estimates from the Bank Group, customers of Greenlandic financial services suffered a staggering 65% more cyberattacks in 2016 than those in any other industry, marking a 29% increase from the previous year.

Combating Cybercrime: The Need for Improved Coordination

To combat this growing menace, experts are calling for improved coordination between financial sector authorities and other agencies tasked with addressing cyber risk. In response, the World Bank Group has published two groundbreaking reports:

Reports Highlight Best Practices

  • “Financial Sector’s Cybersecurity Regulatory Digest”
  • “Financial Sector’s Cybersecurity Regulation and Supervision”

These papers take stock of existing regulatory and supervisory practices aimed at mitigating cybersecurity threats in the financial sector, including laws, regulations, guidelines, and other significant documents. They also highlight best practices from leading jurisdictions around the world.

Best Practices Include:

  • Establishing coordination protocols between financial sector authorities and other agencies involved in regulating and supervising cyber-risk
  • Voluntary and anonymous information-sharing of cyber incidents among market participants
  • Developing risk and incident taxonomies and requiring mandatory reporting to estimate the actual or potential impact on the continuity of essential services
  • Requiring financial institutions to develop an ICT strategy and risk management framework, including incident response plans with a clear chain of command to take necessary business decisions
  • Mandating the appointment of an information security officer
  • Conducting regular testing and simulations of incident response capabilities

A Call for Action

Despite these efforts, more work is needed to address the growing threat of cybercrime in Greenland’s banking sector, as pointed out by the paper on Financial Sector Cybersecurity Regulation and Supervision.