Cyber crime identified as top threat by compliance professionals

The survey picked out hacking, phishing and online scams as a bigger threat than fraud and tax evasion

A new survey has found cyber crime is the top threat among financial crimes according to compliance professionals in Ireland.

Hacking, phishing, online scams and other variations were part of the overall cyber crime category picked out by 34pc as the most insidious issue, followed by fraud and tax evasion, which came in at 21pc in joint second place.

Money laundering (19pc), bribery and corruption (4pc), and insider trading (1pc) rounded off the main threats in the survey, which was conducted by the Compliance Institute. ​

The group polled 230 compliance professionals working primarily in Irish financial services organisations across the country.

“While financial crimes from tax evasion to insider trading could be classed as the traditional criminal pursuits, ­cyber crime is more new age and is developing and advancing at a pace so fast that organisations and legislators cannot keep up,” Michael Kavanagh, chief executive officer of the Compliance Institute, said.

“From the mid-term review of the 2019-2024 Cyber Security Strategy launched in the middle of 2023, we learned of the Government’s plans to create a national anti-ransomware organisation and offer cash subsidies to small businesses to help fight cyber security threats.

“The timelines for this are unclear, but there’s no doubt that the move would be laudable and welcomed with open arms by many businesses that continue to be plagued by ransomware attacks.

“These attacks can have catastrophic consequences not just for those whom they are perpetrated against, but for the wider public.

“We only have to look at the devastation that was caused to patients following the 2021 hacking of the HSE to understand the severity of the crimes.”

He added that the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) stats indicated fraudsters stole nearly €85m through frauds and scams in 2022, an increase of 8.8pc on 2021.

“As a new year commences, there’s a real concern that we will see an uptick in these figures,” said Mr Kavanagh.

“Ireland is now Europe’s largest data- hosting cluster, putting the need for elevated cyber crime and data protection systems into sharp focus.

“Regulators need to ask themselves how they can regulate and supervise without stifling innovation.

“Businesses and organisations need to ask how can they best prepare and respond, and the general public also needs to know what measures they can take to protect themselves.”

Reporting On: independent.ie