Canadian Banks employ ethical hackers to bolster cyber security

Canadian banks have woken up to the threats of dedicated cyber-attacks and have implemented preventive measures. The country’s largest banks are improving their defenses by hiring top-notch ethical hackers to try and penetrate the systems. This initiative is a welcomed move by large financial institutions in an effort to combat malicious attacks. Public infrastructure and financial institutions in North America have been targeted by crippling attacks that have compromised servers and have cost tens of millions of dollars in damages.

Nearly half of the banks in Canada have reported attacks of some kind or the other during 2017 alone. Furthermore, over 20% of companies in Canada have also been victims of cyber-attacks and data breaches. In May of this year, the Bank of Montreal and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported an attack which may have jeopardized the financial information of thousands of customers. The hackers allegedly contacted the bank, claiming to have the information of about 50,000 customers. Earlier this year, hackers successfully targeted the systems that control elements of public infrastructure for the city of Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. There is no doubt that attacks have become much more audacious and severe in the last couple of years.

The ethical hackers working for the Canadian banks have been trying to simulate attacks that are similar in nature to what actual hackers might attempt. Such an approach would reveal any vulnerability in the banking servers and enable cybersecurity teams to rectify them.