ICBC U.S. subsidiaries are still difficult to get customer trust after being attacked

(Bloomberg, Washington) ICBC's ICBC Financial Services (ICBCFS) of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. After being attacked by ransomware earlier this month, some customers still have doubts about transactions through ICBC.

People familiar with the matter said that financial institutions including banks, securities firms and other types of securities companies have recently sought guidance from the US Treasury and the US Securities and Exchange Commission to determine when to safely start through ICBC financial services.Treatment of US Treasury transactions.

But the personnel of these institutions believe that the relevant guidelines have almost no effect on the persuasive partners to return to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China system. U.S. Treasury transactions are still transferred and liquidated through other companies.

ICBC Financial Services was attacked by ransomware on November 9, which caused U.S. Treasury bond transactions to be unable to liquidate, and temporarily cut off the connection with the New York Mearon Bank platform.The representative of the Rate Software Lockbit told Reuters on November 13 that ICBC paid the ransom and the transaction had been completed, but ICBC did not respond to this.

People familiar with the matter said that ICBC has established a new information technology infrastructure in recent weeks to restore its trading services in the United States and inform the user system that it has resumed operation.

People familiar with the matter also said that officials of the Ministry of Finance provided a set of re -connection standards to ICBC, and ICBC quickly established a new infrastructure -based framework system for handling transactions.However, this rapid change and questioning how ICBC has dealt with the attack infrastructure, which makes people worry about facilities' safety, and also makes ICBC's partners hesitate to re -enter the system.

For financial companies investing in the US Treasury market, ICBC's financial services can assist in setting up and settlement transactions, which is a key intermediate person.The consequences of this network attack highlight the vulnerability and interrelatedness of modern digital banks. For financial institutions that have been attacked by ransomware, traders need a long time to rebuild trust.