By Pádraig Hoare
A cybersecurity expert has warned firms must recognise cyber attacks as a “clear and present danger”, as the Central Bank fined an asset management company after it lost €650,000 of a client’s funds in an online scam.
Chief executive of Smarttech247, Ronan Murphy said companies had to accept cybersecurity as an essential part of modern business, as Appian Asset Management was fined €443,000 and reprimanded by the regulator for admitting “significant breaches across client asset, anti-money laundering, and fitness and probity regulation”.
The Central Bank said regulatory failures left Appian exposed to a cyber fraud by a third party where, acting on the instructions of a fraudster impersonating a client, it facilitated a series of transactions resulting in the loss of €650,000 of a client’s funds. The cyber-fraud unfolded over two months during which no one at Appian reported suspicious transactions or fraud reports to the gardaí or Revenue. The client was fully reimbursed after the scam was uncovered.
The Central Bank said had it not been for the financial position of the firm, it would have imposed a financial penalty of €825,000.
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