The Monetary Authority of Singapore warned financial institutions of the risks of dealing through the Microsoft Windows Operating System which could allow malware to bypass security and gain control over computers.
The MAS underlined the cyber risk posed to the broader industry and has since informed affected users that Microsoft has provided a patch. According to the regulator, the patch newly released last week addresses 49 of the vulnerabilities, four of which it deemed «highly critical and require immediate attention».
«Financial institutions should also take mitigating measures to prevent the vulnerabilities from being exploited,» the MAS added in its note.
Of the four highly critical vulnerabilities, one of them allows a potential cyberattacker to decrypt confidential information on affected user connections by conducting a «man-in-the-middle» attack – an unauthorized interception of communication between two systems. The remaining three vulnerabilities allow attackers to remotely control affected systems to perform various activities including unauthorized installation of programs, creation of rogue administrator accounts and the ability to view, change or delete data.
