The Need For Cybersecurity In BFSI
According to Trend Micro Incorporated, a cybersecurity pioneer, the banking sector saw a shocking 1,318 percent spike in ransomware assaults in the first half of 2021. Today’s cybersecurity risks assume several forms, including data breaches, fiscal breaches, malware, ransomware, and much more.
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As a result, there is an urgent need to keep cybersecurity architecture up to date with cutting-edge security protocols, which are currently the norm.. It’s self-evident that we’ll need all the cyber ammunition we can get to cope with these threats on a global scale,and that we’ll need a cyberthreat-centric approach in this industry.
How Badly Is BFSI Affected?
FireEye reported a breach in December 2021, and was handling the investigation. Their investigation revealed that two government entities were found to have been hacked as a result of a vulnerability in a product they utilized called SolarWinds, according to their report. As a result of the tool’s widespread distribution, numerous systems have already been compromised.
Such breaches make us understand the importance of cybersecurity policies and their absolute necessity in the financial services business.
HCL polled over 3600 cybersecurity professionals around the world for its 2021 State of Cybersecurity Report in order to better understand security best practices and threat intelligence.
Some of their key takeaways were:
- In the event of cyberthreats, 78 percent of respondents said that their primary concern was the organization’s reputation.
- Almost 65% of those polled admitted that their company evaluates its cybersecurity competence.
But What Are The Top Cyber-threats to BFSI?
The CSI 2021 Banking Priorities Survey by Computer Services, Inc. provided some intriguing information about the banking sector’s top threats.
Social Engineering
This issue includes everything from customer-targeted phishing to employee-targeted phishing to a variety of other forms of social engineering in which users’ sensitive information is stolen. 81% of the bankers polled believe this is the most serious threat.
Ransomware
Ransomware, on the other hand, involves social engineering to attack, but it is financially exhaustive for the affected company. To carry out a successful breach, cyber criminals frequently use Advanced Persistent Threat tools and strategies.
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Miscellaneous
VPN attacks, AI technology, Cloud-based attacks, and other risks are all just lurking in the future. In the current situation, developing technologies are a double-edged sword for BFSI.
Cybersecurity Mitigation in BFSI
Some measures to prevent cyber attacks are listed below:.
- The Cybersecurity Architecture Stack serves as a roadmap for any company. It successfully aligns existing needs through assessment.
- To avoid financial losses, the incident response plan should incorporate ransomware threats.
- To prevent attacks, companies should have a cyberthreat-centric approach with rigorous employee training and awareness initiatives.
- It should be a top priority to ensure multi-factor authentication and end-point security. This reduces the likelihood of user ID fraud and provides security in the event of asset theft.
- In order to apply best practices for ensuring corporate cybersecurity, the Chief Information Security Officer must be on the Board.
The onus of providing water tight security measures falls primarily on the provider in BFSI. Thus, it is integral for the industry to be on top of their game when we talk about Cyber security.