In the spotlight

Will IT get simpler and cheaper?

Which technologies will shape financial services over the year ahead? CTO BT Radianz Services Michael Cooper (left), makes the following predictions in a BT Let’s Talk blog:

Read Michael’s predictions in full by clicking here
Watch the BT Assure Analytics video
Download the BT for Financial Services Compliance white paper

BT assists with ‘Waking Shark II’ cyber attack simulation

BT played a significant role in the UK’s Operation Waking Shark II, which put staff from London’s major financial institutions to the test with a simulated cyber attack last November.

The simulated ‘war game’ followed a much smaller operation staged in March 2011, and was designed to test the sector’s ability to withstand stress and maintain regular operations in the face of a sustained security breach.

Cyber attacks are the top risk for UK banks according to a statement from the Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of England last June. In October its Financial Policy Committee indicated that within six months, it expected to receive outline strategies from banks and other major financial institutions in the UK detailing how they would protect against potential cyber attacks.

For Waking Shark II, BT helped to develop scenario-injects that tested the resilience of the UK financial infrastructure, and it was also on hand to support and guide those taking part on the day. Example scenarios included how DDoS attacks could impact demand for the incoming financial information that drives trading in wholesale financial markets, as seen in South Korea earlier in 2013.

Cyber security is a major concern for financial institutions throughout the world, and last July the US Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), ran its own ‘Quantum Dawn’ cyber attack exercise, among market participants in the USA.

BT Let’s talk: Waking Shark II: this time it’s personal

Sharing the costs of cyber vigilance

As the costs of protecting company data soar, vendors and customers are coming to the realisation that no single organisation can have a complete picture of the threat landscape, and they are actively discussing threat collaboration.

“Security people are told not to share and financial people don't share information with competitors, so getting them to tell others that they were under attack was not easy,” said Ashley Jellyman, Head of Information Assurance at BT talking to SC Magazine about the Waking Shark ll exercise. “We have seen companies refuse to contribute until others have done so first, but if you don't share it doesn't work. Unless you contribute, you can't see what's happening so you don't get the benefit… by seeing attacks in others you can identify them in your own network.”

The reality is that financial institutions can no longer each afford to duplicate internally what every other financial institution is having to do. Banks already share some information in areas around anti-money laundering and anti-fraud operations, and they could share methodologies, processes and data too.

One way to access appropriate shared services very effectively is across a private managed cloud platform. The BT Radianz Cloud is the largest secure networked financial community in the world and is built specifically to meet the sharing needs of financial institutions on which utilities and information are shared between market participants and financial institutions have been using it for over a dozen years.

BT Let’s Talk: It's good to share… infrastructure for risk management

How prepared are the financial markets for a cyber attack? Ashley Jellyman talks to The Banker’s Dan Barnes

BT Assure offers a partnership approach to IT security: find out more here

Find out more about BT Assure Analytics global threat management service here

BT in the news

BT garners awards for the New Year

BT carried off an award for connectivity in the Best New Product section of the Futures and Options World International Awards on 10 December last year. Robin Farnan, MD Financial Technology Services and Alexandra Foster, Head of Global Strategy & Business Development, Financial Technology Services, Global Banking & Financial Markets (pictured), accepted the award on behalf of BT Radianz at a glittering gala dinner at Grange City Hotel in London. More awards are set to come our way this year, and BT has already been shortlisted in the upcoming 2014 FSTech awards in the following categories:

The winners will be announced on 27 March at the Lancaster Hotel London.

Meanwhile Inside Market Data / Inside Reference Data have also announced their reader survey shortlist for their 2014 awards. These awards recognise industry excellence with market data, reference data and data management. BT has once again been shortlisted in the category: Best Data Networking and Infrastructure Provider – the category in which we were thrilled to win last year.
Vote here - Voting closes on 4 April.

Making global connections

BT to provide data centre services to Banco Agrario de Colombia

BT has announced that Banco Agrario de Colombia, one of Colombia's three largest banks, is to rely on key services from BT Compute’s traditional and hybrid cloud based services portfolio to support its daily operations and growth.

BT will provide the bank with collocation services in its data centre in Bogota and provide Banco Agrario with technological solutions that will allow the bank to maximise its performance and security while also improving its workflow in the next five years. Read more >

More about BT’s data centre services

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi selects BT to connect global operations

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has selected BT to connect its expanding network of regional and global operations. Under the terms of the contract, BT will leverage its BT Connect portfolio of managed network services to link NBAD’s centralised IT services from the data centre in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to its network of 12 international branches worldwide.  Read more >

Download the case study or watch the video case study

Let's Talk

Can the gamification of financial services help increase customer loyalty and brand connection?

Gamification is about earning points that leads to rewards; different experience levels that lead to status; providing challenges that lead to achievement; virtual goods that lead to self-expression; a score board that leads to competition; and interacting with others that leads to social engagement. How can this be an opportunity for financial services companies? Asks Fabrice De Windt, VP Europe and Global Business Development at BT Global Banking & Financial Markets. Read more >

Hearing you cloud and clear

Today cloud technology is fundamental for any expanding business with a mobile workforce, and has achieved an astonishing 38 per cent increase in business collaboration since its eventual rise to popularity in early 2000. But how can the cloud benefit your business today? We asked employees for their thoughts. Read more >

Cloud collaboration: what’s not to like?

85 per cent of IT Decision Makers say they want cloud based collaboration in their enterprises, yet only 34 per cent have an implementation strategy. What is holding back the case for cloud? Asks Marcus Hickman from Davies Hickman Partners. Read more >

Is the cybersky falling down?

The press is full of stories about cyber security, but is the situation really as bad as the press would lead you to believe? Alan King, BT Security Future Security Concepts asks whether this is the price humans are willing to pay for the benefits technology brings. Have the risks been reduced to a level that we are prepared to live with? Read more>

Data leakage prevention: over-used and under-valued?

Acts of malicious intent will always find a way of subverting detection – but ‘data leakage prevention’ (DLP) solutions should be able to effectively address any data leakage at all, says Raja Azrina Raja Othman, Principal Consultant, BT Advise Assure, BT Global Services. Read more >

Getting your strategy right is key to successful BYOD adoption

Has Bring Your Own Device reached the tipping point where it has become inevitable? Almost certainly yes; a recent survey showed that 62 per cent of employees believe personal technology makes them more productive, so the drive is there at the grassroots level. Read more >

Cost, cloud collaboration and IT decision makers in the post-recession economy

With reports of an economic upturn, will IT Decision Makers relax their laser-like focus on reducing costs in large enterprises? And are they ready for a big round of capital expenditure fuelled by strong cash balances? The answer is “no” to both questions according to a new study from BT and Cisco entitled Digital Dislocation in the Workplace: Overcoming the challenge of collaboration with cloud based services which shows that 76% of IT Decision Makers say reducing total operating costs remains a top priority, but Opex is preferred to Capex. Read more >