As an entity in the financial services sector, are you doing enough to protect your data and hard-earned money from cyber crime? Whichever your role may be in the financial services sector – small bank, credit union, money manager, investment adviser – the status of your cyber security protection plan is paramount to sustaining continued growth while still adhering to regulatory compliance standards. As it stands currently, the SEC is the governing body of the financial industry, but their cyber security measures are limited. Congress eventually joined the fight, passing The Cyber Security Information Sharing Act that outlines the government’s communication avenues about cyber security, and the Cyber Security National Action Plan, allocating more money toward fighting cyber crime.
So, what can be done in order to decrease the cyber attack risk for financial services firms? Below are key points from PwC’s article “Turnaround and transformation in cybersecurity: Financial services”:
- Being aware of security protocols/standards of third-party vendors and holding them accountable: Whether they handle your HVAC or security system, connectivity to IoT and having proper cyber protocols in place is the difference between continued growth and stopping short due to a surprise hack.
- Keeping up with the rapidly evolving, sophisticated, & complex technologies: Cyber security protection cannot just be one firewall, or anti-virus program; a multi-step, internal and external facing managed and monitored system is the answer – for now.
- Understanding that an increase in mobile device usage means a larger, more inclusive cyber security plan: Over 30% of users have been attacked because of their mobile device usage. The assumption that cyber attacks only occur on desktops is a thing of the past.
- Tracking, understanding and protecting from security threats outside the country: State-sponsored attacks and hackers from outside US jurisdiction use their location to their advantage. Be vigilant in your cyber security protection protocols and stop them before they even start.
This isn’t rocket science – the financial services sector has an obligation to their clients to provide every available security measure when it comes to protecting the assets that have been entrusted unto them. Now, the points above speak to ideas like employee education, pre-planned disaster recover options; it’s a lot for any company to take on in-house, especially if they don’t know where to start. Having a cyber security management and monitoring firm such as Neovera provide 24x7x365 support and protection for your vulnerable data is the difference between proactive and reactive organizations. Be proactive when it comes to cyber security protection – your clients will thank you.