The Central Bank of Ireland has today issued guidance on IT risk management and cybersecurity for financial services firms. 

The Central Bank highlights their key concerns given their potential impact on firms and their customers, and the risks for financial stability. 

 “The incidence of cyber-attack and business interruption is on the increase and firms should assume they will be successfully targeted. The security and resilience of IT systems, their governance and management must improve to reflect this reality.” 

“The Central Bank expects Boards and Senior Management of regulated firms to fully recognise their responsibilities for these issues and to put them among their top priorities.”

The Central Bank implores firms to robustly address key issues such as, outsourcing, change management, incident response and disaster recovery as areas that could potentially leave a company vulnerable to cyber threats.

Director of Policy & Risk, Gerry Cross, said: “Developments in technology have fundamentally changed business processes and models in financial firms.  These advancements have resulted in benefits for firms and their customers.  However, they also bring significant risks as firms become increasingly interconnected and more reliant on complex IT systems, including outsourcing service providers.”   

“The Central Bank is demanding increased effectiveness in this area.  We are undertaking considerable work to require improved IT risk management and cyber resilience across regulated firms. This includes enhanced supervisory capabilities and increased focus on these risk areas." He added.

Source: www.businessworld.ie