Cybersecurity measures are vital for any company, especially for banks and financial institutions. Security breaches in the banking sector can cost companies heavily, both in terms of regulatory fines and customer trust loss.
Secure Your Network
Many financial institutions have large amounts of sensitive consumer information that they need to keep secure. Experiencing breaches can lead to financial setbacks for the company and its clients, a decrease in trust, and potential legal consequences. It is important to take proactive measures to improve cybersecurity in the financial industry, to safeguard sensitive information and ensure the continuity of business operations.
This includes implementing a network security strategy that provides the following:
- Complete visibility across distributed networks.
- Detecting threats hidden in encrypted traffic.
- Alerts of other vulnerabilities.
It also includes ensuring that employees receive training to spot cyberattacks and understand how their actions can impact the organization’s vulnerability.
Finally, financial institutions must monitor their critical third-party service providers for vulnerabilities. This will help to identify and mitigate risks before they impact the institution or its consumers. It will also ensure the firm plans to respond quickly to a breach to minimize damage and protect its reputation. It will also be essential to have a formal process for reporting breaches so that regulators and consumers are notified as soon as possible.
Secure Your Servers
Last year was a record-setter for cyberattacks, and financial institutions have been a top target of malicious actors. To reduce the risk of data breaches, make your servers more secure.
Limit access to your server’s resources by granting only the necessary privileges to those who need them. This will keep out unauthorized users who could exploit the server for other purposes. It is important to back up your website and platforms regularly and ensure these backups are encrypted. Having backups can save your organization from losing valuable information or paying ransom in the event of a hacker attack.
You can also prevent hacker attacks and other security threats by implementing modern, self-learning technologies that will allow you to monitor your network in real time. This allows you to detect anomalies and weed out any potential attackers who can then be quickly responded to with proactive measures.
Secure Your Databases
Banks have to face an ever-changing set of threats because they hold sensitive financial records that bad actors are known to target. To counter these risks, banks need a cybersecurity strategy that addresses all the layers of their IT systems.
This means securing databases from attacks that exploit physical security vulnerabilities. If threat actors get access to your data center or database server, they could steal the information, corrupt it, or even install malware that grants them remote access.
To prevent these attacks, encrypt all data at rest and implement strong authentication measures for users needing access to your database. You should also have a plan for monitoring your database, so you’re aware of any suspicious activity and can react quickly to stop a breach. Finally, you should educate your staff and customers about phishing scams and identity theft risks to minimize their vulnerability. You can do this by providing educational outreach and mandatory two-factor authentication requirements for all your users. This will help strengthen your banking cybersecurity for all stakeholders.
Secure Your Applications
Nowadays, several financial institutions allow their clients to perform various banking activities, such as checking their account balances, applying for loans and credit cards, paying bills, and transferring money online. While this has made banking services more accessible and enabled clients to manage their finances more efficiently, it has also made them vulnerable to cyber threats from hackers.
Ensure that your organization follows all applicable cybersecurity regulations and standards, including those designated for the financial sector. There are several regulations that businesses need to adhere to, including the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and others.
Encourage employees to follow strict data protection guidelines on their devices. This will help to prevent a wide range of malware attacks, including fileless, zero-footprint malware.
Develop and implement a comprehensive incident response plan (IRP) that covers all aspects of a cyber attack, from data loss to impacted customer relationships. This will help mitigate the cyber attack’s impact on your organization and protect your clients, shareholders, and investors. Invest in vulnerability management tools to assess complex environments and software configurations. These tools will ensure your applications are resilient and secure against cyber threats.
Secure Your Clients’ Data
Cyber attacks are a major threat for all industries but are especially dangerous for financial institutions. This is largely because of the nature of their business — dealing with sensitive information and large sums of money. Additionally, these attacks can be incredibly damaging to the reputation of the institution and its customers.
The good news is that there are several ways to make your bank more secure against cyberattacks. Some of these measures are technical, while others are more behavioral. For example, you can encrypt your customer data and other sensitive information to prevent unauthorized disclosure. You can also improve your cybersecurity by implementing multi-layered defenses. This means that if one barrier is breached, numerous other barriers will be in place to thwart the attack.