PASA Cybercrime and Fraud Working outputs

The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures (12 months to the end of December 2021) for incidents of cybercrime and fraud show increases of 110% and 41% respectively, compared to the period prior to March 2020.

One particular area of concern has been examples of fraudsters deliberately obtaining employment with a view to undertaking fraud in the organisation concerned and there are unfortunately examples of this happening in the pensions sector.

It is in this context that the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) have published new guidance on pre-employment vetting drawn up by its Cybercrime and Fraud Working Group and a Cybercrime Protection checklist.

Both cybercrime and fraud represent rapidly growing, continuously evolving threats, unlike other, more static risks. Pensions organisations need to make sure that they are properly protected against these threats as they are now, not as they were a year or two years ago.