Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council membersnotified financial institutions about the growing threat ofcyberattacks on ATM and card authorization systems.

“The members are aware of a recent increase in cyberattackslaunched in connection with this fraud, to gain access to, andalter the settings on, ATM web-based control panels used by smallto medium-size financial institutions,” said an FFIEC statement on Wednesday.

“The members expect financial institutions to take steps toaddress this threat by reviewing the adequacy of their controlsover information technology networks, card issuer authorizationsystems, ATM usage parameters, and fraud detection processes,” thestatement also said.

The FFEIC also warned about the continued distributed denial ofservice attacks on public-facing websites. FFIEC urgedfinancial institutions to establish effective response systems tocombat DDoS threats.

“Each institution is expected to monitor incoming traffic to itspublic website, activate incident response plans if it suspectsthat a DDoS attack is occurring, and ensure sufficient staffing forthe duration of the attack, including the use of pre-contractedthird-party servicers, if appropriate,” the FFIEC said.

The FFIEC, established in March 1979 to prescribe uniformstandards for financial institutions, has six voting membersincluding chairman of the FDIC, a governor of the Fed, chairman ofthe board of the NCUA, the Comptroller of the Currency, director ofthe CFPB and chairman of the State Liaison Committee.