The concerns were published in the Bank’s Financial Stability Report today after the high profile TalkTalk hack in October, which reportedly cost the telecommunications company £35m.
Unsurprisingly firms themselves are worried, as in a separate Systemic Risk Survey the Bank revealed that 46% of financial firms were concerned about cyber risks, up from 30% in the first half of the year and 10% in the second half of 2014.
The Bank of England said: “Cyber-attack is a serious and growing threat to the resilience of the UK financial system – cyber-attacks have the potential to threaten the vital services that the financial system provides to the real economy.
“The risk from cyber-attack has grown over time, reflecting increased use of technology in financial services.
“Firms need to build their resilience to cyber-attack, develop the ability to recover quickly from attack given the inevitably that attacks will occur, and ensure effective governance of cyber risk across their functions.”
The UK and the US governments conducted a joint exercise to see how well the country would respond to a cyber incident in November.
The report stated that the financial system has moved out of the post-crisis period, with the risks to the global environment shifting from advanced economies to emerging markets.
