Recognising cybersecurity threats in the financial industry is as hard as encrypting the crucial data

Why cybersecurity attacks are drastically increasing in the financial industry recently? Isn’t it evident that cybercriminals find financial companies the best ground to rob data? Instead of taking efforts to extract data from business organizations and making money out of it, cybercriminals are picking the easy way to see dollars with fewer efforts. Cybersecurity has become a top concern for financial industry companies, and the level of concern seems to be growing day by day. In order to combat the setbacks, the cybersecurity threats in the financial industry should initially be recognized. 

Cybercriminals have not changed a bit, instead, they have ramped up the speed and consequences. In the modern world, the financial industry is put in a tight spot where they can’t even make one wrong move. The financial industry has always been on the top of cybersecurity breaches with the sector accounting for around 35% of all data theft. The scenario has further escalated in recent years. The landscape is even becoming rough for financial institutions that have mastered cybersecurity. Customers now have a big belief in the financial companies and blindly rely on them with the fluid thought that the organizations will stand firm on their security grounds. Financial institutions are bound to balance between being open with being secure. Recognizing cybersecurity challenges is as hard as encrypting crucial data. Henceforth, we have summed up some of the pivotal cybersecurity threats in the financial industry that could limb your organization. 

The gap between regulations and compliance

The financial industry is often closely regulated by governments. Despite being private, they are charmed by the fact that they revolve around money. Besides complying with local, state, and central government, financial institutions should also take international regulations into account as the clients could be from any end of the globe. This has invited cybercriminals to try their hand at securing financial data when they move around a lot of places. Recently, some countries have put forth some cybersecurity regulations such as the European Union’s GPDR, China’s ‘The Cybersecurity Law,’ Singapore’s Cybersecurity Agency of Singapore, and Brazil’s resolutions No.4658.

Third-party intervention could welcome cybercriminals

Traditionally, the financial industry has been engaging in involving third parties in the name of partnership to outsource services to reduce costs. In the digital world, the concept has shifted from basic services to cloud services. Financial institutions use cloud services to carry out internal functions to streamline financial services. Cloud service agreements entail intricate data-sharing regulations. But this has opened the door for cybercriminals to put a trap on financial data. In order to put an end to cybercriminal intervention, security teams must monitor and prioritize financial data and its movement.

Malware attacks through applications

Financial organizations have a lot of valuable information in their possession pertaining to customer data and their own sensitive data. This makes them the best target for cybersecurity breaches. Many organizations in the financial industry use web applications to share files and collaboratively work with employees. This could create a void to trick employees into falling for a link that could further invite cybersecurity challenges. Bots are becoming a common form of communication between financial institutions and customers. They are automated programs designed to complete tasks online. Unfortunately, a malicious bot can be programmed to attack financial services directly or indirectly.