Is Wall Street ready for financial terrorism?

FierceFinance writes: It's fair to say that banks are under constant attack from cyber criminals. The traditional foes have ranged from mere phishers to organized rings with larger ambitions. Regulators have not been blind to this trend, which we have discussed often on our sister site FierceComplianceIT. Finra, for example, has moved to engage in thematic examinations of how broker-dealers are grappling with security risks.

But a new front is emerging, one that poses even greater risks. The Economist notes that a new class of attacker has emerged, one that falls squarely under the Advanced Persistent Threat rubric. That has some people concerned about sophisticated cyber terrorism aimed at bringing our financial system to its knees.

"Leon Panetta, America's defence secretary, has suggested that a cyberattack on financial markets, the power grid and government systems could be ‘the next Pearl Harbour'. In a move that received surprisingly little attention, Barack Obama signed an unprecedented executive order in July declaring the infiltration of financial and commercial markets by transnational criminal groups to be a national emergency. It also pointed to ‘evidence of growing ties between [these groups] and terrorists,' " the article notes.


Read more: Is Wall Street ready for financial terrorism? - FierceFinanceIT http://www.fiercefinanceit.com/story/wall-street-ready-financial-terrorism/2011-12-30#ixzz1iVJl3j87