Nasdaq Stockholm Receives Fine for Inadequate Cyber Security

Nasdaq Stockholm, along with its clearing operation, has been fined by F1, Sweden’s financial services regulator, for failing to sufficiently manage its cyber security supplier.

This is due to the regulator’s tougher stance in reaction to an increasing number of hacking incidents. Trading venues, which include Nasdaq Stockholm, are essential due to the economies and financial systems of countries, and thus are an obvious target for cyber criminals.

The organisations, both of which outsource cyber security to Nasdaq Inc, its parent company, received an SEK 55mn (£4.7mn) fine by F1 after it was deemed to have  inadequately managed cyber security.

A statement made by F1 said:

“The investigation looked at how the two organisations manage cyber risk given the fact that information security is outsourced.

“Both companies have demonstrated deficiencies of such a degree that FI has made the assessment that there are grounds on which to intervene against them.”

As cyber security is outsourced, F1 looked at the two companies regarding their independence in cyber security management.

It added that neither Nasdaq Stockholm nor Nasdaq Clearing obtained the data needed to assess the value of the outsourced services and lay sufficient requirements at the feet of the service provider.

The fine illustrates how seriously cyber security is viewed in the current climate. All organisations should be asking themselves if they are implementing adequate cyber security. If they view that they could be doing more, they could start by looking at how they could improve their IT security recruitment practices.