CaixaBank studies the prevention of cyberthreats by using AI tools

The projects are called INTERSOC and NG-SOC

• The bank is involved in two European consortia to improve the financial system's strengths in the face of cyberthreats and improve its response to incidents.
• The bank is the only Spanish company to be selected to become part of two projects within the framework of the Digital Europe programme.
• Cybersecurity is a strategic priority for CaixaBank, which has optimised its cybersecurity ecosystem with specialist teams and advanced technology infrastructure to protect digital transactions.

CaixaBank will be part of two European consortia to prevent cyberthreats and provide a faster and more secure response in the face of potential incidents. Via two projects financed by the European Commission under the scope of the Digital Europe programme, the bank will implement AI tools to generate solutions and services that contribute to increasing the security for activities carried out by financial institutions.

CaixaBank is the only Spanish company participating in both projects, called INTERSOC (GA: 101145874) and NG-SOC (GA: 101145874), and it will lead the assessment and application of the solutions provided from the point of view of the financial sector. Both projects share the same ultimate goal, which is to improve the industry's ability to detect and respond to threats, as well as generating a collaborative ecosystem among the different SOCs (security operation centres) that helps in improving all of their abilities.

With a three-year horizon (up until the end of December 2026), both projects funded in the call for proposals ‘Strengthening the capabilities of the Security Operation Centres’ will aim to detect new attack patterns, as well as generating systems for the exchange of information, knowledge, analysis and faster responses at both national and European levels, in line with the good practices established by the CSIRT Network and CERT-EU (the response teams responsible for dealing with computer security incidents affecting Spain and the EU, respectively). 

Involvement in European projects

CaixaBank is continuously involved in European research and analysis projects regarding the various issues and challenges that the financial industry is faced with. It has recently announced its involvement in the EMERALD project, which focuses on providing tools for automating and standardising security control management for cloud services. 

Aside from this consortium, CaixaBank has participated in other European projects within the framework of the Horizon 2020 programme, the funding framework for research and innovation from the European Commission for the 2014-2020 period, which was endowed with almost 80,000 million euros. The bank is now participating in multiple Europe Horizon projects, the current funding framework, which has an allocation of 95,510 million euros for the 2021-2027 period and aims to ensure that Europe can generate first-rate science and remove all barriers affecting innovation. In total, CaixaBank has managed to become part of thirteen winning consortia in recent years, with funding received for technological innovation and for cybersecurity in excess of 3 million euros.

CaixaBank's participation in these projects establishes in the bank at the forefront of R&D for the financial sector, with a special focus placed on information security. Furthermore, being part of these international consortia provides the entity with greater coordination in the ongoing improvement of its cybersecurity environment and of the financial sector in general.

Cybersecurity, a strategic priority

Cybersecurity is a strategic priority for CaixaBank, which has implemented a cybersecurity ecosystem with specialised teams and advanced technology infrastructure to protect digital transactions from security incidents.

The bank invests in technology on an ongoing basis in order to meet customer demands, guarantee growth, adaptability to business needs and the permanent availability of information. As a result, it ensures full adaptation of its infrastructure to the needs arising from financial management and servicing customers. ​

CaixaBank is a pioneer in security research and coordination, with measures such as creating a specialised group for responding to IT security incidents, and a centre that coordinates the overall security of the entire Group. Furthermore, it is a member of the main international cybersecurity research and collaboration forums.