‘I employ a lot of hackers’: how a stock exchange chief deters cyber-attacks

Six Group, which operates the Swiss and Spanish bourses, is a target for cyberwarfare and must be on guard, its boss says

Six Group counts its profit in millions, but the financial pipework it controls moves billions. Its operations, which include the Spanish and Swiss stock exchanges, count as critical national infrastructure and this gives it a close relationship with governments and regulators in Madrid and Zurich.

Those relationships are critical in an age where digital warfare makes financial infrastructure a prime target for hackers linked to hostile states. Jos Dijsselhof, the Dutch chief executive of the Swiss-based stock exchange group, is open about the scale of the challenge. I employ a lot of hackers," he says, tapping the table sharply. Sometimes it takes one to know one."