The European Central Bank (ECB) said on Thursday (May 12) that it is setting up a database that will be used to register and track cybercrime occurrences at commercial banks.
Reuters said that the ultimate goal will be to create an “early warning and analysis system” geared toward big lenders. The creation of that database was first cited in a German newspaper, Handelsblatt, said the newswire.
The news of the database comes not long after cyberthieves stole as much as $81 million from a Bangladesh central bank account held at the New York Federal Reserve, marking one of the biggest cyberheists recorded to date. The crime, reported Reuters, has given rise to growing fears over cybersecurity.
ECB oversees 129 of the largest banking groups in the eurozone, which hold as much as 80 percent of assets by banks in the currency union. The database is under a pilot project that has been up and running for the past three months, centered on 18 larger banks in the region, and the rollout, in its largest sense, is slated for a year from now and will keep tabs on security dangers, with an eye on pattern emergence and the ability to warn other institutions of the emergence of new threats. The roadmap was disclosed by Francois-Louis Michaud, deputy director general of the central bank’s Micro-Prudential Supervision unit.
