Judicial and law enforcement authorities in Europe, Australia, the United States, Ukraine and Canada have taken down a website that allowed fraudsters to impersonate trusted corporations or contacts to access sensitive information from victims, a type of cybercrime known as ‘spoofing’. The website is believed to have caused an estimated worldwide loss in excess of GBP 100 million (EUR 115 million). In a coordinated action led by the United Kingdom and supported by Eurojust and Europol, 142 suspects have been arrested, including the main administrator of the website.

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The Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has on November 29th published an assessment showing reasonably high adoption of their Cyber Guidance by FMIs. The report – Implementation monitoring of the PFMI: Level 3 assessment on Financial Market Infrastructures’ Cyber Resilience – presents the results of an assessment of the state of cyber resilience (as of February 2021) at 37 FMIs from 29 jurisdictions that participated in this exercise in 2020–22. The Level 3 assessment covered all FMI types, ie, systemically important payment systems (PSs), central securities depositories (CSDs), securities settlement systems (SSSs), central counterparties (CCPs), and trade repositories (TRs).  Continue reading…

In the wake of the news that crypto exchange FTX is on the brink of collapse, Matt Smith, CEO and co-founder of compliance technology and data analytics firm, SteelEye made some comments about the part Binance played in FTX’s fall from grace: “The digital assets market has been rocked – once again – by the near collapse of one of the sector’s leading players, FTX. Despite huge inflows of investment, FTX was reckoning with a “liquidity crunch”. Surging withdrawals – reportedly amounting to $6 billion in just three days – plummeted the crypto exchange’s valuation, and FTT, FTX’s native coin, collapsed by 72% in just 24 hours.” Continue reading…

On 10 November 2022, the European Parliament adopted the Digital Operational Resilience Act. DORA is an EU regulation that sets out to establish a uniform and comprehensive framework for the digital operational resilience of the financial sector. Nearly all regulated financial entities are in scope of DORA. They will have to put in place sufficient safeguards to protect against cyber and other ICT risks, in their internal processes but also in their existing and new contracts with ICT service providers. Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a consultative document on Achieving Greater Convergence in Cyber Incident Reporting. Timely and accurate information on cyber incidents is crucial for effective incident response and recovery and promoting financial stability. The proposals take a comprehensive approach and include: Continue reading…

The Commission has on 26 October adopted a legislative proposal to make instant payments in euro, available to all citizens and businesses holding a bank account in the EU and in EEA countries. The proposal aims to ensure that instant payments in euro are affordable, secure, and processed without hindrance across the EU. Instant payments allow people to transfer money at any time of any day within ten seconds. This is much faster compared to traditional credit transfers, which are received by payment service providers only during business hours and arrive at the payee’s account only by the following business day, which could take up to three calendar days. Instant payments significantly increase speed and convenience for consumers, for example when paying bills or receiving urgent transfers (e.g. in case of medical emergency). Continue reading…

This report presents key developments in the area of migration and asylum, and it takes stock of the progress achieved in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum in the past year. It identifies key challenges ahead, highlighting the need for further progress towards a responsible and fair migration management system in the EU. From Russia’s war against Ukraine causing the largest forced displacement of people in Europe since the Second World War, to the instrumentalisation of migration for political purposes by the Belarusian regime, through a pandemic and unprecedented travel restrictions, all alongside continued and even growing pressure on traditional migratory routes – the EU has over the last year been faced with a series of challenges with major repercussions for migration, asylum and border management. Continue reading…

On September 28, President von der Leyen made a statement on a new package of restrictive measures against Russia. We wanted to present together the eighth package of sanctions. Last week, Russia has escalated the invasion of Ukraine to a new level. The sham referenda organised in the territories that Russia occupied are an illegal attempt to grab land and to change international borders by force. The mobilisation and Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons are further steps on the escalation path. We do not accept the sham referenda nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine. And we are determined to make the Kremlin pay for this further escalation. So today, we are together proposing a new package of biting sanctions against Russia. Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

We recently spoke in the Amsterdam office of Nixu Corporation with the new CEO Teemu Salmi, also a Nasdaq Helsinki-listed international player in the field of cybersecurity. Nixu is a household name and absolute market leader in the mother country of Finland and now desires to grow further, including in the Benelux. Firstly, let’s provide some background on Nixu and its new CEO. Nixu is not a software supplier, but a cybersecurity services company with the mission to protect businesses against cyber attacks, so that business continuity is and remains assured. Continue reading…

The Commission welcomes the decision by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its infractions of international aviation rules, in order to preserve the safety and security of civil aviation. The ICAO decision refers to the violation of Ukraine’s sovereign airspace in the context of Russia’s war of aggression, and to the deliberate and continued violation of several safety requirements in an attempt by the Russian government to circumvent EU sanctions. These actions include illegally double-registering in Russia aircraft stolen from leasing companies, and permitting Russian airlines to operate these aircraft on international routes without a valid Certificate of Airworthiness, which is the necessary safety certificate. Continue reading…