G7 finance leaders agreed to hold tabletop exercises against AI-enabled cyber attacks, Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on 15 October, Reuters reported. Katayama spoke after finance ministers and central bank governors met on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund’s annual gathering in Bangkok.
A Japanese finance ministry official who attended the meeting said G7 finance authorities would develop simulations to test their responses to AI-driven attacks. The exercises will assess existing protocols, with the results used to revise response manuals, the official said. G7 finance ministries and central banks could bring private financial institutions into an exercise, depending on its scenario.
The IMF warned that an AI-enabled attack on a critical service at a financial institution could damage confidence. The Bank of England’s deputy governor said on 15 October that the bank was exploring deep cyber-recovery options with banks, a subject AI Affairs covered in its report on the bank’s call for recovery plans. The deputy governor said defences could no longer be assumed immune to AI-enabled cyberattacks.
