Hello. Morgan Stanley and financial-data company Refinitiv Holdings are working with other financial firms, and cloud providers, to create best practices for moving and managing data in the cloud. The idea is to standardize methods so that individual cloud customers don’t have to handle these activities on their own,WSJ Pro’s James Rundle reports.

It’s the latest move by companies to assert control over how their data is stored in the cloud, partly because of cybersecurity incidents linked to poorly secured cloud services.

Other news: China hacked the Vatican, cybersecurity firm says; Treasury Department to advise Trump on TikTok this week; and Senate Republicans propose $53 million to protect Covid-19 research. 

Morgan Stanley leads bank group on cloud data standards. Banks, technology companies and cloud providers are working together to define best practices for how financial institutions move their data to the cloud and keep it safe from hackers. They plan to deliver the first version of their standard within nine months.

Morgan Stanley and financial-data company Refinitiv Holdings Ltd. are co-chairing a working group that includes Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Standard Chartered PLC, Toronto-Dominion Bank Group and Société Générale SA, among others.

The banks say there are methods that can be standardized and even automated, such as ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and encrypting data.

Developing a set of standards that companies can use to measure their progress and ensure security will allow them to move to the cloud faster, without being bogged down by the need to develop features themselves, said Richard Perris, an executive director at Morgan Stanley.

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China hacked Vatican ahead of negotiations, U.S. cybersecurity firm says. The hackers, said to be a state-sponsored group RedDelta, carried out a series of cyberattacks aimed at the Vatican starting in early May, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a report from cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. The alleged breaches, which also targeted Catholic institutions in Hong Kong and Italy, come as the Holy See and Beijing prepare to negotiate renewal of an agreement on the delicate issue of the appointment of Catholic bishops in China. 

Intent? Targets of RedDelta’s hacking efforts included the Diocese of Hong Kong and the city’s Holy See Study Mission, which has played a crucial role in the Vatican’s negotiations with Beijing, according to Recorded Future. The company said by hacking into the Vatican, RedDelta could have gained insight into the Holy See’s negotiating position ahead of the possible renewal of the agreement in September.

Response: The Holy See Press Office declined to comment. A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, asked about the report on Wednesday, said China "has always firmly opposed as well as combated cyber espionage and cyberattacks.” 

Treasury to make TikTok recommendations to Trump this week. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that a Treasury Department-led review into whether popular Chinese video-sharing app TikTok poses threats to U.S. national security will present its recommendations to President Trump this week, The WSJ reports. U.S. officials say they are concerned that TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., could pass on data it collects from Americans streaming videos to China’s authoritarian government. TikTok has said that the Chinese government hasn’t asked TikTok to censor content and that its content-moderation policies aren’t influenced by any government. 

Republican Senators propose $53 million to protect Covid-19 research. The latest version of a coronavirus relief bill includes $53 million for the DHS cybersecurity agency for securing vaccine research, GovInfoSecurity reports. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, want to include privacy provisions in the bill. 

Write to the WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Team: Kim S. Nash, James Rundle, Catherine Stupp and David Uberti.

Follow us on Twitter: @knash99, @JimRundle, @catstupp and @DavidUberti. 

Contact Enterprise Technology Editor Steve Rosenbush at steven.rosenbush@wsj.com or follow him on Twitter: @Steve_Rosenbush.