The Pensions Administration Standards Association (Pasa) Cybercrime & Fraud Working Group has published a cybercrime protection checklist to help administrators in the fight against cyber attacks.

The checklist builds on the working group's previous guidance, published in November 2020, by providing examples of the steps administrators can take to assess their defences against cybercrime.

In particular, the checklist provides examples to help administrators increase resilience when meeting their legal and regulatory standards, understanding their vulnerability, and ensuring the organisation is resilient and remains able to fulfil key functions.

However, the group also clarified that the checklist is "by no means exhaustive", stressing the need for administrators to review their own circumstance and add further steps where needed.

"The digital criminal world is fast-moving, and unfortunately even following all the steps on the checklist may not prevent a successful cyber-attack," Pasa Cybercrime & Fraud Working Group chair, Jim Gee, commented.

"We encourage each administrator to review their own vulnerabilities and add further steps which are relevant to their own environment."

In addition to this, the guidance outlined a number of initial steps that pension schemes should take before considering the checklist, including appointing a named individual with overall accountability for cyber security.

Industry experts have previously raised concerns that pension schemes were still not doing enough to safeguard against cyber-attacks, despite research suggesting that there is an increased threat following the pandemic.

Share Story: