“Cyberspace is the most dangerous weapon in the world – politically, economically and militarily,” former Defense Secretary Bob Gates, vice president of the JPMorgan International Council, said in the shared report. Share privately with CNN.
Several well-known hacks this year highlight the dangers posed by network vulnerabilities.
The JPMorgan International Council wrote: “Cyberattacks in 2021 have increased in number and sophistication, demonstrating that both state actors with vast resources as well as criminal groups are capable of potentially threaten critical infrastructure and ultimately national security”.
The White House sent out a letter Thursday outlining steps business leaders can take to protect against cyberattacks this holiday season.
“Unfortunately, malicious cyber actors don’t holiday – and they can destroy us if we’re not prepared and protected,” Biden cyber officials warned in the letter.
The JPMorgan board, whose members include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, credited the Biden administration and Congress with a “huge amount of work” to tackle the space challenge. network.
However, the JPMorgan board, which first met in 1967, also posed “opportunities to amplify these efforts,” including:
-Strengthen cooperation between the public and private sectors
– Promote hiring of cybersecurity experts in government agencies
-Strengthen intelligence sharing among like-minded countries
-Define and “enforce standards of behavior in cyberspace”
– Pass legislation to codify executive orders issued by the Biden administration and previous administrations
“The public and private sectors must work together to fortify our government and business activities against this threat, while fully educating the American people on the extent to which they are critical,” Gates wrote. danger of this weapon”.
Businesses are concerned that the government is holding back information
The JPMorgan Council urges governments to do more to bring cybercriminals to justice in a more timely manner. This will “build greater trust and improve information sharing” between the public and private sectors, the report said.
“Cyber risk is of paramount importance to countries, economies and businesses,” Dimon wrote in the report. “To help protect national security and overcome obstacles to trade, we need to hold bad actors accountable, provide transparency to those affected by incidents, invest in improving network security and adopting safe and sound methods for data protection and handling.”
The panel argues that it is crucial that governments do not withhold what they know about cyber incidents and threats.
“There is a perception among some business leaders that the government does not share as much information as possible, which erodes trust and discourages businesses from sharing information in kind,” the report said. .
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Wednesday of how a large-scale cyberattack could shake financial markets.
Asked during a press conference to identify risks to financial stability, Powell referred to commonly cited threats such as a new Covid-19 variant and high market valuations. But then he expressed concern about how the Fed would react to a major cyber event.
“The risk of a successful cyberattack … would be very difficult to deal with,” Powell said. “We know how to deal with bad loans and things like that. I think if a cyber attack were to take down a major financial institution or a financial market utility, that would be a stabilizing risk. The financials are really substantial that we haven’t really faced.”
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