According to a freedom of information (FOI) request made by accountancy company RSM, the data showed that retail banks were hit the hardest and had the highest number of reports (486), which is almost 60% of the total. This was followed by wholesale financial markets on 115 reports and retail investment companies on 53.
The root causes of the incidents were attributed to third-party failure (21%), followed by hardware and software issues (19%) and change management (18%). The information also shows that there were 93 cyber-attacks in 2018 reported to the FCA, with over half of them identified as phishing attacks, and 20% ransomware.
In 2019, Metro Bank became the first major retail bank to fall victim to the SS7 exploit. Hackers were able to intercept an additional layer of security offered by Metro Bank, which asks customers to type in a code sent by text message to their phones to confirm transfers and payments.
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