Singapore

Joint Exercise by MAS, BdF and ACPR to Strengthen Cross-border Cyber Crisis Response and Preparedness

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Banque de France (BdF) and the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) has carried out a joint crisis management exercise focused on cybersecurity threats.

The exercise follows from the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Cybersecurity signed between MAS, BdF and ACPR in November 2019, MAS explained in a press release.

The joint exercise tested the effectiveness of cyber crisis coordination and response by the three financial authorities when managing scenarios such as ransomware, zero-day vulnerabilities and IT supply chain attacks. Given the global nature of cyber threats and the interconnectedness of our financial systems, cross-border cooperation has become increasingly important to safeguard financial stability and the resilience of essential financial services.

Vincent Loy, Assistant Managing Director (Technology), MAS, said, “The joint exercise demonstrates the commitment of MAS, BdF and ACPR to sharpen our collective response to major cyber attacks targeted at financial institutions operating on a cross border basis, through effective information sharing protocols. Such close cooperation improves our ability to maintain operational resilience and stability in the global financial system.”

Nathalie Aufauvre, Director General for Operations and Financial Stability, BdF, said, “The BdF's experience in cyber crisis management was very valuable for preparing this joint exercise with MAS, which fully confirmed the ability of our authorities to exchange and share information efficiently in times of crisis. Cyber-risk being cross-border by nature, the conduct of international crisis exercises is essential to increase our level of readiness and collective cyber-resilience, especially in this period of heightened cyber-threats. The exercise also illustrates the diversity of our joint MAS-BdF cooperation after the opening of BdF’s office for Asia-Pacific in Singapore in 2020.”

Bertrand Peyret, Deputy Secretary General, ACPR, said, “Cooperation with MAS enables us to share best practices on how to address the growing number of cyber threats facing financial systems. It is also a reminder of the need for supervisory authorities and central banks, on top of processes and protocols required from financial institutions, to have processes and protocols in place to deal with these threats, including on a cross-border basis.”