The IMF, BIS, and 10 Countries Simulate Cyber Attack on Global Financial System

Earlier this month Reuters produced a report which didn’t receive nearly enough attention among the American public – its contents would be sure to alarm most people concerned with the outbreak of yet more ‘global catastrophes’. At the very least it’s curious timing: amid the recent pandemic-induced disruption in global supply chains, powerful nations and banking institutions decided to get together to run a global economic collapse scenario. 

The report described that Israel led a “10-country simulation of a major cyberattack on the global financial system in an attempt to increase cooperation that could help to minimize any potential damage to financial markets and banks.” It was centered on a catastrophic scenario in which “hackers were 10 steps ahead of us,” according to one official who took part.

The financial-geopolitical gaming simulation, dubbed “Collective Strength”, was held in Jerusalem (after being moved from the original proposed location of Dubai) and included the participation also of the United States, UK, United Arab Emirates, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Thailand. Officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and Bank of International Settlements were also involved.

The “Collective Strength” simulation was set amid a scenario where sensitive data was leaked on the Dark Web, which combined with “fake news” reports by the mainstream media going viral across societies, resulting in the collapse of global markets and an ensuing run on banks. Further, the simulation envisioned a series of devastating hacks targeting global foreign exchange systems, which also disrupted transactions between importers and exporters, according to Reuters.

The simulation set out a severe crisis period lasting about a week and a half. Events were guided by a film and narrator which related the fast-moving ‘live’ events…

“These events are creating havoc in the financial markets,” said a narrator of a film shown to the participants as part of the simulation and seen by Reuters.

Further, the report detailed the simulation hosted under the aegis of Israel’s Finance Ministry:

“The banks are appealing for emergency liquidity assistance in a multitude of currencies to put a halt to the chaos as counterparties withdraw their funds and limit access to liquidity leaving the banks in disarray and ruin,” the narrator said.

The participants discussed multilateral policies to respond to the crisis, including a coordinated bank holiday, debt repayment grace periods, SWAP/REPO agreements and coordinated delinking from major currencies.

Simulation participant countries and institutions, Via Reuters

Ostensibly what was a “successful” ten-day exercise was essentially aimed toward each nation being prepared to contain the global damage coming from some kind of major cyber event or unknown existential threat to the financial system. The key takeaway was that only through rapid global cooperation and open communication among nations, would there be the opportunity to prevent a total collapse of the global financial system.

Interestingly, some participants said in reality they would move faster than in the simulation in the instance of a cyber disruption of that scale. They said “in real cyber-attack situation governments would take action more quickly than in the simulation,” according to Reuters. “One European financial official said that in the case of such of an attack, his country would not wait 10 days to act.”

However, it is doubtful much public will feel “comforted” by global elites engaging in a simulated global meltdown ‘readiness’ scenario. Again, as if 2020 and 2021 under the pandemic weren’t enough of a “real world” disaster and crisis scenario, one questions the need to game out a ‘pretend’ geopolitical-financial collapse scenario in the first place.