The Bank of England (BoE) today introduced a new framework aimed at improving the UK financial sector's defences against "sophisticated" cyber attacks, in a move described by a collaborator as the "first initiative of its type" by a central bank.

The BoE said the "intelligence-led testing framework" – known as CBEST – would "assist the boards of financial firms and infrastructure providers, and regulators, in improving their understanding of the types of cyber-attack that could undermine