Cybersecurity in Financial Services: What You Need to Know

Published on September 28, 2022  |  Cyberfort Advisors

As part of our ongoing series, we wanted to dive into cybersecurity in financial services, including the issues and opportunities this industry faces. 

Why is Cybersecurity Important in Financial Services?

The most important reason to prioritize cybersecurity in financial services is to prevent financial losses. This is because most cyber attacks on financial institutions aim for financial gain. 

On top of the money, customer data and the business’s reputation are also important. After all, if a financial institution loses money, customers, and its reputation, it won’t be in business for long.

Top Cybersecurity Issues in Financial Services

Basic Web Application Attacks

According to the 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon, basic web application attacks are the top attacks on financial services businesses.

The report states:

A key component of these attacks is that they usually involve the Use of stolen credentials, which is the number one Action variety in this vertical. These creds may have been obtained in any number of ways, but brute force hacking and credential stuffing are the most likely culprits. One thing is certain, stolen creds and web apps go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

This close connection between credentials and basic web application attacks makes it clear that keeping your credentials private and secure is critical to the safety of financial information. 

System Intrusion 

System intrusion includes malware, ransomware, and similar attacks.

According to the 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon:

System Intrusion has doubled from 14% in 2016 to 30% this year. Organized crime was responsible for only 49% of breaches in 2018 vs the 79% we see in this report. … This is mainly due to ransomware attacks. As long as ransomware continues to be a high profit, low risk attack, criminals will continue to utilize it.

The report also mentions that “DoS attacks continue to be a huge problem and account for 58% of security incidents in this vertical,” which is about double of what other industries see. 

The motive for attacking a financial services business is financial 95% of the time, so it makes sense that system intrusion attacks are so high in the financial sector. 

Miscellaneous Errors

According to the 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon, “The Error variety of ‘Misdelivery’ (16%) is the second most common action variety in this vertical.” The report continues, “Misdelivery is approximately three times higher in Financial than in the other industries.”

With financial services employees sending sensitive data to the wrong recipients this often, it’s no wonder that consumers are constantly worried about the security of their financial accounts and money. 

But misdelivery is only part of the problem. Other miscellaneous errors are made by financial services employees, too. 

Top Opportunities in Financial Services Cybersecurity

Implement a Zero-Trust Architecture

According to Harvard Business Review, a zero-trust architecture assumes all network activity is malicious until proven otherwise. It requires continual verification and limits access based on policies.

Using zero-trust architecture can protect your financial institution’s sensitive data from hackers, reducing malware and ransomware. 

Security Awareness and Skills Training

Training employees the skills they need to keep sensitive data secure is necessary for any industry, but is critical for the financial services industry because employee errors are so prevalent. Training is necessary to spot attacks as well as to help employees learn how to check their own work to avoid making errors as well.

Guy Moskowitz told SC Media his two-pronged recommendation: “First, education must be ongoing — not an annual/quarterly occurrence — as the threats evolve so quickly and the attackers are continuously becoming more sophisticated and more devious. And second, offloading cyber responsibility to the end-user is not realistic.” 

Moskowitz’s recommendation makes it clear that training is not enough to reduce cyber attacks in financial institutions. The businesses themselves need to prevent the attacks in the first place through different processes, rather than making their employees and clients shoulder that responsibility. This leads us to our next opportunity. 

Data Protection

SNIA defines data protection as “the process of safeguarding important data from corruption, compromise or loss and providing the capability to restore the data to a functional state should something happen to render the data inaccessible or unusable.”

This process is typically carried out by monitoring the network and mitigating any attacks or leaks as soon as possible, as well as preventing data loss, encrypting and authenticating data, and data recovery. It also includes data privacy, which means upholding compliance and policies. 

How CyberFort Advisors Can Help

Don’t let cybersecurity issues weigh your financial services business down any longer. Delegate your full cybersecurity program to CyberFort Advisors. Our domestic team completely manages your cybersecurity needs 24/7. Learn more about Managed Security Operations Center services today.