Thank you for inviting us to this session to provide insights and field questions on cybersecurity in the financial sector.
My name is Thomas Davies, and I am the National Financial Services Cybersecurity Leader for EY in Canada. I'm also a special adviser for financial crime for the firm globally with a focus on insider and outsider threats. Prior to joining EY, I spent eight years as a director of Scotiabank, supporting all three lines of defence.
Cyber-attacks are on the rise and the financial services industry is considered a high value target globally. The number of individuals, organizations and nation states with access to advanced tools has grown exponentially as service offerings for hacking have been developed and optimized by criminal organizations. Attacks on financial services are not limited to cyber-breaches. They can quickly move to fraud and money-laundering activities, which then create a strain on the talent and financial resources of any organization. These concerns are exacerbated by the shortage of skilled professionals across financial crime domains. A successful breach of payment systems, transaction networks or customer data could have a material impact on the economy.
Consider for a moment the implications of not being able to use your debit or credit card for a day or even a week. Imagine over one million Canadians trying to withdraw cash to pay for groceries, gas or medicine. Many global regulators consider the resiliency of financial services against a cyber-event to be a top priority for ensured economic health, as exhibited by new security requirements in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and New York.
As Canadians demand greater access to financial services through digital platforms such as open banking, we need to consider embedding security and privacy principles into the design phase of a solution. In doing so, we will help to build customer trust, encourage adoption and proactively reduce the likelihood of costly fixes later. Implementing preventative measures such as training and awareness, access management, system hygiene, third party risk and corporate governance will reduce both the attack surface of these platforms and the maintenance required to support them.
Canada has an opportunity to become a global leader in security and privacy while continuing to be a great innovator of fintech. Through the continued support of shared intelligence, the development of talent through early and continuous education, and by enhancing public awareness of cyber-threats leading to financial crime, we can ready ourselves against this growing threat.
Thank you.