The WMA’s annual Financial Crime Conference will tackle the issues with cutting-edge discussion

Cybercrime has dominated the news throughout the year and is a threat to which no-one is immune. Cybercrime has become one of the major issues of the modern age and companies and institutions are finding themselves ever more hard-pressed to contend with the threat in order to keep citizens and customers safe.

The WMA recognises the huge importance of tackling this issue, both for its member firms and their clients. Liz Field, Chief Executive of WMA said: “Cybercrime is of particular interest to financial organisations, not only because they manage clients’ assets, but also because they hold large volumes of sensitive client data. The misappropriation of such data can lead not only to direct financial loss and severe reputational damage for companies.

According to the ONS annual crime report there were 2.5 million cybercrime offences directly affecting individuals between May and August 2015, an average of 625,000 a month. The report highlighted the fact that more than 20 per cent of all cybercrime victims incurred a loss a higher than £5001. Another 37 per cent of people who were victims of cybercrime suffered losses ranging from between £100 to £500. These numbers highlight the increasing personal and financial damages cybercrime presents to individuals, and the need to adopt effect counter-cybercrime measures. Liz concluded: “As an industry, finance faces considerable losses from cybercrime as there have always been significant potential financial gains to be had and valuable sensitive information to be stolen.”. Indeed there is still a long way to go when it comes to spreading cybercrime awareness in the industry, with only 41 per cent [1] of industry respondents to recent PWC study believing they may experience any form of cybercrime in the next 24 months.