Germany’s Banking Regulator BaFin Hit by Cyberattack

Germany’s banking regulator has reportedly closed off parts of its website following a cyberattack.

BaFin took defensive measures following the attack Sept. 1, which restricted access to the website, Bloomberg reported Monday (Sept. 4). The organization was working to restore full access.

The site appeared to be down Monday afternoon.

Regulators in Europe have been warning banks that cyberattacks present a rising threat, as they can cost money and cause customers to lose confidence, the report said.

Security is a pressing concern in the world of digital finance, with organizations and individuals both demanding greater assurance that their money is safe and secure — particularly from the most modern threats.

“Security is paramount to anything that we have, making sure that our system is secure, that we’ve got our own testing done, [penetration] testing, things like that on the back end of the system,” Hazeltree Chief Financial Officer Kevin Held told PYMNTS last month as part of a new executive series, “The One Thing.”

Events in the banking sector, like this year’s regional lender crisis, have underlined the need for robust security measures, as companies diversify their banking relationships while opening themselves up to more potential avenues of attack.

“Organizations are no longer satisfied with connecting to just one bank; they want the option to connect to multiple institutions through a single portal,” PYMNTS wrote. “And they want that single portal to be their equivalent of Fort Knox.”

“Thinking about myself, what are the most important things for me using a bank and using a payment platform,” Held said. “It’s going to be security and who I can connect with. I’m thinking about if I am going through the process of being able to release a payment, who sees it? How does it go from one party to the next? Is there multifactor authentication involved?”

Meanwhile, PYMNTS intelligence found that 51% of banks that are embracing cloud technology are doing so to bolster cybersecurity. Thirty-nine percent of financial institutions (FIs) want to improve their fraud detection, and 34% wish to improve claims management.

“All three areas benefit significantly from the cloud’s improved data science capabilities, with 34% of FIs citing these as core objectives,” a July report noted.