back to article 'Nervous' London bankers run mock cyberattack exercise

London banks are taking part in a simulated cyberattack exercise on Tuesday designed to test the resilience of the UK's financial service industry to a collapse of telecoms systems and Olympics-related transport disruption. The exercise is occurring against the real world backdrop of the Occupy the City protestors, camped …

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  1. Adrian 4
    Facepalm

    Resilience ?

    Er .. I don't think they're testing the resilience of the "industry". Everyone knows that's crap, anyway - but then what can you expect from a bunch of short-term-thinkers and economics grads?

    What they're testing is the resilience of the technological infrastructure, which hopefully is at least marginally better.

  2. TheRealRoland
    Happy

    Will someone please think

    of the orphaned records!

    And you forgot to include in the introduction that it was also occurring against the backdrop of the Super Committee failing, the fluctuating Stock Exchanges, Spain about to default, etc.

    Come on, more doom saying! We want to imagine those dark clouds! Almost 2012!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Speaking as I've found

    Bank systems (a lot of them "mission critical") are held together with string, sellotape and sheer luck.

    I've seen "production servers" under people's desks. One sneeze and the whole house of cards would collapse.

    This isn't isolated and it isn't just me. Its endemic in banking and seen by hundreds of people. Everything is outsourced, all the full time guys have either been made redundant or left and no one knows how one system interfaces with another. And no one takes ANY responsibility.

    I'm not saying there isn't good kit -- but most of that is over twenty years old and was built when software standards meant something. That'll keep chugging away fine. Because people leave it ALONE.

  4. ElNumbre

    Hmmm

    "In response to feedback, we have released the scenario well in advance so facilitators have more time to review injects and their impacts, engage the right people and in-house experts and organise their participation on exercise day. "

    Pre-warning of a disaster is not practising a disaster.

  5. Pete 8

    So are they/you getting ready for:

    1) the actual Truth to come out: their main judically journdiced gigantically jeapardous blind spot the dog(s)?

    or

    2) a False Flag Fracas Finalising Finance Family Force Majuere For Feigning Failed Fed Feeds Found Favouring Foreign Fervours Non-Nationalistically?

    or

    3) Testing, precepting, decepting en-klepting not nice new NetWOrk nodes sold for souls like yours?

    Funny thing is that in playing that own-goal game, are the above three thoughts/actions not laughed out loud compounding certainty of citing crustacean-court-conspiratorial collageN padding the walls around and of/coursing the cells of brains as bounty, enough.

    Of course the GOD-like IT angle may be lowered or raised to the, or by the sharing of any problems those houses are/have.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3tgmXgTp6f8

    and

    Have a nice HEY!.

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      The System .... Boldly Going, Holed below the Water Line, into Cloud for Storm Cover

      What could possibly go horribly wrong, Pete 8 .... apart from everything, all at once, that is?

      <blockquotePosted by amanfromMars on 11/23/11 02:31 AM …. http://thedailybell.com/bellinclude.cfm?id=3278

      This is a sharp perspective on a bubble which will always be bursting because of its phoney nature ........ http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2011-11/23/content_14145970.htm

      Which bubble will blow up first though, .... the Fed one or the European one ..... or will both of them realise that they are outed as being vulnerable to every little prick out there, for the problem is systemic and unsolvable in their present constitutions which are corrupt and perversely skewed? </blockquote>

      And El Reg, there a heck of a lot of breaking IT information and intelligence available on that thread from relatively anonymous sources you are familiar enough with ...... although intimacy is not a forte that the faint hearted can be expected to explore whenever paid to deliver something else.

  6. jubtastic1

    Can't see this working out

    I'd imagine the prospect of your competitors pretending to have serious coms issues presents some interesting opportunities for profit, this will play out like the prisoners dilemma.

    Fully expect a "systems and coms surprisingly resilient" conclusion.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How?

    How are they going to test this on a trading day in the UK? You can't exactly pull the comms plug otherwise you genuinely will have a major incident.

  8. Phil S
    Windows

    I've taken part in a few of these kinds of exercises (public sector - sorry...) and the value you get from them isn't necessarily "successfully" completing the exercise.

    You get to see who is good under pressure, who/what will be throwing obstacles in your way when you're trying to sort it out (usually process-driven) and helps build the relationships within an organisation (and between organisations) that will help it through a real emergency.

    It's not so much about preventing systems going down (though obviously that's preferable), it's about finding who are the right people to sort it out when it does happen.

    If it does nothing more than make a few managers think about who is/isn't reliable, its worth it.

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      An Astute Move in Dark and Deep and Dangerous Waters ...

      And monitoring board comments on a proposed exercise can also identify interested parties and interesting parties of particular and peculiar interest to transnational international and international security agencies, Phil S.

      And quite rightly so, given the unbelievable destruction which is so easily wrought virtually with programs bought and brought with nothing but everything the program desires ...... and a real cheap sting for sharks to enjoy .

  9. Thomas 18
    FAIL

    Surprise inspection next Tuesday

    Everyone prepare to be appropriately surprised

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