“The Swiss financial centre is well protected against cyber risks”  

Alexandra, could you give us a specific example of a threat the financial sector has faced in recent years?  

Back in June 2023, Switzerland was subjected to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks by a group of pro-Russian hacktivists in the run-up to a virtual speech by the Ukrainian President before the Swiss Parliament. The same happened in January this year while the World Economic Forum was under way in Davos. A DDoS attack overloads the IT infrastructures of companies or institutions with a flood of queries. This is a serious threat because it can cause systems to stop working. Depending on who is targeted and the scope of the attack, it can affect the entire financial centre.  

Ransomware attacks are another type of threat. They involve hackers encrypting data and demanding a ransom. They threaten to publish the data on the darknet if it is not paid. These have a greater impact than DDoS attacs.  

What does the Swiss FS-CSC do against attacks like these?  

It is mainly up to the institutions themselves (banks, insurers etc.) to safeguard their IT systems against attacks. That said, the Swiss FS-CSC informs its members about cyber crime affecting the financial centre as quickly as possible via the Operational Cyber Security Cell (OCS).  

How important is cooperation between financial institutions and authorities?  

Cooperation between the various stakeholders is the key to success here. We have created a network in which financial institutions, the Swiss National Bank, FINMA, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and other relevant parties are in close contact with each other. The Swiss FS-CSC functions as a hub for coordination and knowledge transfer. It currently coordinates seven chapters with some 80 experts working on specific topics. The authorities – the NCSC, FINMA and the State Secretariat for International Finance – are represented in its key governing bodies as affiliates.  

The Crisis Coordination Cell is a core element of the association. In the event of a systemic cyber crisis, it assesses the situation, provides recommendations for action and handles coordination and communication in conjunction with the authorities. It is especially important in a crisis for everyone involved to work together rapidly and smoothly to minimise the damage and maintain the stability of the financial centre.  

Are there other means of protecting the financial sector?  

We have a holistic strategy encompassing both preventive and reactive measures. These include continually refining our crisis response, regular exchange of threat intelligence and webinars on current issues relating to cyber security in the financial sector. The cyber exercises we run, in which we simulate cyber incidents to test our ability to respond to them and identify weaknesses, are especially important. Being well prepared in terms of reactive measures can significantly reduce the impact of a cyber incident.   

What role do artificial intelligence (AI) and automation play in cyber security?  

Artificial intelligence and automation are playing an ever more important role in cyber security. They make it possible to analyse huge volumes of data quickly and identify threats in real time. In the financial sector, we are increasingly using AI-supported systems that spot attacks automatically and can avert many of them before they cause any damage. Automation helps us to optimise processes so that we can respond to attacks more rapidly. These technologies offer enormous potential to enhance security further while simultaneously increasing efficiency. That said, hackers are also using AI and automation, which makes it all the more important for us to stay on the ball at all times.  

What does the future hold for cyber security in the financial sector?  

Threats are set to keep growing, and they are becoming more complex and sophisticated, so we need to keep evolving all the time. The Swiss FS-CSC intends to keep pace with technological innovation while at the same time keeping the human dimension of cyber security in focus. Staff must be trained and trustworthy when it comes to security, since people are often the greatest weakness in a system.   

The public-private partnership that the Swiss FS-CSC embodies has established itself very quickly, so I am very confident that our financial sector will remain well protected against cyber risks going forward.