US Treasury Department Releases Report on AI Cybersecurity in Finance

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has recently released a report focusing on the existing landscape of cybersecurity and fraud risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) in financial services.

The report titled “Addressing Cybersecurity Risks in the Financial Services Sector Related to Artificial Intelligence” provides insights into various facets, including an examination of current AI applications, emerging threat trends, recommended best practices, and the encountered challenges and opportunities.

The report was commissioned in response to Presidential Executive Order 14110, which prioritizes the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Utilization of AI.

Spearheaded by the Treasury's Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection (OCCIP), the report addresses the department's Sector Risk Management Agency obligations concerning the financial services sector.

“Treasury’s AI report builds on our successful public-private partnership for secure cloud adoption and lays out a clear vision for how financial institutions can safely map out their business lines and disrupt rapidly evolving AI-driven fraud,” Under Secretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang said.

The report's conclusions stem from 42 comprehensive interviews conducted in late 2023. These interviews engaged representatives from diverse sectors, including financial services, information technology (IT) companies, data providers, and anti-fraud/anti-money laundering (AML) organizations.

The report delineates a set of subsequent actions to tackle immediate challenges in operational risk, cybersecurity, and fraud related to AI. These steps encompass addressing the widening capability gap, bridging the fraud data divide, extending the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, and enhancing regulatory coordination.