technology

The Government Is Helping to Protect Banks From Hackers

The top secret National Security Agency is working with Wall Street to protect “tremendous vulnerabilities” that might be exploited by hackers. In movies and the government’s worst nightmares, computer criminals could get “inside a bank’s network to disable trading systems for stocks, bonds and currencies, trigger flash crashes, initiate large transfers of funds or turn off all ATM machines.” Such break-ins would “wreak havoc across global markets and cause economic mayhem.” Hypothetically, Reuters reports: “It is unclear if hackers have ever been close to producing anything as dire, but the FBI says it has already helped banks avert several major cyber attacks by helping identify network vulnerabilities.” But we’re not talking about some kid in a basement scrawling website graffiti; we’re talking mostly about China.

National Security Agency helps banks battle hackers [Reuters]

The Government Is Helping to Protect Banks From Hackers