Cyber security is the greatest risk faced by financial institutions
today, a risk they have understood and managed for decades longer than
is commonly understood. Ever since the major London banks purchased
their first computers in the early 1960s, they have had to balance their
dependence on those machines with the need to secure their operations
and retain the trust of their customers.
Technological change in the second half of the 20th century prompted
British banks to reevaluate their function as trusted protectors of
wealth. In the City of London, the capital's oldest area and
historically its business and commerce hub, the colossal clearing banks
employed newly commercialised electronic computers--the processing power
of which could transform the highly clerical clearing and settlement
process. What unfolded over the following three decades was a relentless
modernisation drive. Revolutionising the way that banks and other
financial institutions conducted business and interacted with each other
and permanently altering the speed and scale at which the United
Kingdom's financial sector functioned, this rapid modernisation thrust
computer security into the consciousness of bank executives and their
clients alike.
Dependence on computers quickly grew, and the banks immediately realised
the need to secure their new software and hardware. Focusing on the
period 1960 to 1990, this book uses newly released and previously
unexplored archival material to trace the origins of cyber security in
the UK financial sector.
Topics and features:
- Describes how institutions managed the evolving challenge of computer
security in the second half of the 20th century
- Presents case studies of bank collaboration on computer security
through creation of payment systems like SWIFT and CHAPS
- Explores the relationship between banks and the UK Government as bank
operations became dependent on computer and network technology
This work will be of value to students and academic researchers in the
history of computing, financial history, and the history of intelligence
and security, as well as the general reader interested in contemporary
intelligence, cyber security, and finance.
