Cybersecurity
Fed Cyber Security Focuses on Major Threats in a High-Risk World
- Focus on policy, payments-relevant systems as threats loom
- Attacks on websites have become second-tier priorities
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The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s website crashed for less than a minute, brought down by a barrage of web traffic on May 12. When a hacker claimed responsibility on Twitter, it placed the attack as part of #OpIcarus, an assault the group Anonymous has been waging against global central banks.
In a world of escalating cyber risks, such hacktivist web page interruptions no longer top the Fed’s worry list. Of greater concern than reputation-damaging events such as website overloads are online criminals’ threats to conducting monetary policy and providing services to banks -- key central-bank functions that keep the heart of the U.S. financial system pumping.