In May 2017, hackers attempted to breach the BDL accounts. Since then and following a series of cyberattacks recorded against Lebanon in 2017, BDL governor Riad Salame emphasized that financial cybersecurity in particular is a priority.
In addition to regularly requiring banks to strengthen their control over cybercrime in their activities, BDL issued on November 28, 2017, a new circular no. 144, in which it calls on the Lebanese financial institutions to resort to their correspondent banks and BDL’s Special Investigation Commission (SIC) for assistance when they are suspicious of a certain transaction, or when they believe it is associated to any form of cybercrime.
The mandate also requires banks to refer to BDL’s guide on the protection from e-mail crimes published in October 2016 in collaboration with the Association of Banks and the Internal Security Forces, to adapt their procedures and detect infringements.
The circular also requires banks to set up specific internal rules for electronic money transfer requests that can verify the authenticity of the money transfer request received electronically directly with the client.
Among other required actions, banks must also be vigilant in appointing external contractors for tasks in their IT systems to verify that these contractors do not subcontract the tasks to secondary contractors, which may become a threat to the bank’s IT system.
Source: Business News & L’Orient Le Jour