London's banks and financial institutions face a “real threat” from cyber-terrorists trying to hack their systems, David Cameron warned today.
The Prime Minister spoke as a report by spy centre GCHQ revealed eight in 10 large firms suffered a security breach in the past year. “This figure is significant,” he told the Evening Standard during a trip to Washington.
“We’ve seen in the Square Mile some very large attacks. I think there was one case where it cost a firm over £800 million.”
Mr Cameron and Barack Obama, holding talks on security, announced joint plans to carry out “war game” cyber assaults on the City and Wall Street, amid fears hackers are becoming more sophisticated. The simulated attack on the City will involve MI5 and GCHQ, and their American counterparts, as well as the Bank of England and several large commercial banks.
