The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) have announced a partnership to combat cybercrime within the European financial services sector.
The FS-ISAC is an industry consortium dedicated to reducing cyber-risk in the global financial system, and the EC3 protects European citizens, business and governments from online crime.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two will aim to facilitate and enhance the law enforcement response to financially motivated cyber-criminals targeting banks and other financial institutions through a symbiotic intelligence sharing network.
The partnership is a response to the acceleration of sophisticated cyber-attacks in recent years affecting numerous countries and jurisdictions at once. The MOU will help foster a pan-European approach to intelligence sharing, ensuring the cross-border cooperation necessary for the detection, prevention and reduction of cybercrime. In addition to facilitating information sharing, the agreement will also enable education and resilience through training exercises and informational summits.
“Cyber-criminals are increasingly targeting financial services and institutions to the cost of citizens and businesses across the EU,” said Steven Wilson, head of EC3. “It is crucial to bring key stakeholders around the table to improve the coordinated response; this MOU with FS-ISAC builds a platform to allow us to do exactly that.”
Ray Irving, managing director of FS-ISAC, added: “Accelerated global digitalization combined with the growing sophistication of cyber-criminals demands a more concerted approach from both the public and private sector. Through a collaborative peer-to-peer network, FS-ISAC and EC3 are enabling intelligence sharing to better safeguard the global financial system.”