AFP, Bari :
G7 finance chiefs vowed Saturday to unite against cyber crime as they wrapped up talks marked by signs of a thaw in the frosty relations between the US administration and its main partners.
The focus on cyber crime followed a globe-spanning wave of cyber attacks that hit computer systems in nearly 100 countries on Friday, notably disrupting Britain’s health service and bringing production at carmaker Renault to a standstill in France.
The ministers said in a statement that cyber incidents represent a growing threat to their economies and that tackling them should be a priority.
“We know nothing about it but of course we want to know how they hacked into very secure systems,” said Ignazio Visco, governor of the Bank of Italy.
“At the moment it seems not to have created any problems for the financial system.”
Italian finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan joked that the attacks had been perfectly timed.
“We tried to convince everyone we organised it to show how important the Italian agenda is,” he quipped at the end of two days of discussions in a Norman fortress on Italy’s southern Adriatic coast.
The isue has been on the agenda of the G7 for some time, with the primary focus on the potential threat of hackers being able to infiltrate the computer systems that run the international banking system, capital and equity markets.
G7 finance chiefs vowed Saturday to unite against cyber crime as they wrapped up talks marked by signs of a thaw in the frosty relations between the US administration and its main partners.
The focus on cyber crime followed a globe-spanning wave of cyber attacks that hit computer systems in nearly 100 countries on Friday, notably disrupting Britain’s health service and bringing production at carmaker Renault to a standstill in France.
The ministers said in a statement that cyber incidents represent a growing threat to their economies and that tackling them should be a priority.
“We know nothing about it but of course we want to know how they hacked into very secure systems,” said Ignazio Visco, governor of the Bank of Italy.
“At the moment it seems not to have created any problems for the financial system.”
Italian finance minister Pier Carlo Padoan joked that the attacks had been perfectly timed.
“We tried to convince everyone we organised it to show how important the Italian agenda is,” he quipped at the end of two days of discussions in a Norman fortress on Italy’s southern Adriatic coast.
The isue has been on the agenda of the G7 for some time, with the primary focus on the potential threat of hackers being able to infiltrate the computer systems that run the international banking system, capital and equity markets.
