Cybersecurity Shouldn’t Be a Job for Bank Examiners: Editorial

Cyberattacks are a top — and growing — threat to the US financial system. On that, executives and regulators agree. Exactly what to do about them is less clear.

The task of safeguarding banks is daunting. The biggest lenders spend billions of dollars a year to repel increasingly sophisticated hacks emerging from China, North Korea, Iran and Russia. This requires monitoring vulnerabilities at a wide variety of customers, counterparties and vendors — including software companies and phone and internet providers.

Somewhat ironically, it also means keeping an eye on federal regulators. In April, the Office of the Comptroller of the ...