Swiss and Liechtenstein financial institutions performed their response to a major cyber attack in an operational cyber exercise

Yesterday, Wednesday, 12 November 2025, in Zurich, the Swiss Financial Sector Cyber Security Centre (Swiss FS-CSC) conducted a large-scale operational cyber exercise for the Swiss and Liechtenstein financial sector. This cyber exercise contributes significantly to strengthening the cyber resilience of member institutions and the financial centre as a whole.

Cyber incidents and their impact have been a major risk for financial institutions for several years. Attacks are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated, and artificial intelligence is making them easier and cheaper for criminals to carry out. Social engineering, phishing, ransomware incidents, DDoS attacks, and attacks that threaten business continuity and systemic functions pose a particular risk. In addition, the threat of attacks on supply chains and cloud services is increasing – therefore, preventive preparation is essential and indispensable.

Run through a realistic scenario

Today’s operational cyber exercise simulated a complex, multi-stage cyber attack on the Swiss financial sector. The 134 participants were tasked with identifying early warning signs, mitigating the impact, communicating and coordinating with other institutes and authorities via the Swiss FS-CSC platform, and ensuring business continuity. The scenario tested real-life processes, response times, technical containment measures, communication coordination, and decision-making under pressure. The cyber exercise was aimed at CISOs, security managers, SOC managers and analysts, threat analysts and senior analysts from Swiss FS-CSC members.

Recognition of cyber exercises by FINMA

The FINMA enables supervised institutes in categories 4 and 5 to fulfil their obligation to conduct a table-top exercise by participating in a Swiss FS-CSC cyber exercise. Further information on this can be found in FINMA Guidance 03/2024.

Improving cyber resilience

Alexandra Arni, executive officer of Swiss FS-CSC, emphasized: “This exercise offers participants a valuable opportunity to work through realistic crisis scenarios together and strengthen their immediate response capabilities. In this way, we are making a concrete and effective contribution to improving cyber resilience in the Swiss financial sector.”

About Swiss FS-CSC

The Swiss FS-CSC association is a public-private partnership that aims to improve the resilience of the financial sector against cyber risks – known as cyber resilience – and to foster partnership between financial institutions and authorities on strategic and operational issues.
Founded in Zurich on 5 April 2022, the association has about 180 members, including banks, insurers and re-insurers, the Swiss National Bank (SNB), SIX, financial service providers, securities firms and industry associations. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) support it as affiliates and are represented on its important committees.