Heist for bytes – Cybersecurity in financial services 2019

Cybersecurity’s impact on financial services

2019 has been a banner year for cybersecurity incidents, with hackers targeting various state and local governments as well as private corporations. According to Varonis, hackers attack every 39 seconds, on average, 2244 times a day. In the first half of 2019 alone, data breaches exposed 4.1 billion records, and the average cost of a data breach was $3.92 million.

Not only are cybersecurity issues costly, they are also damaging to the brands. Some of the recent high-profile incidents include the Target data breach that exposed 40 million credit/debit card accounts; Equifax data breach with 143 million customers losing their names, social security numbers, and other key identifiable information; and insecure data exposure by Facebook on unprotected cloud servers that impacted 540 million Facebook users.

In one of the largest exposures in the financial services industry, Capital One disclosed a data breach involving the theft of sensitive data on more than 100 million customers.

An increasingly complex digital environment

A constantly evolving connected environment, coupled with consumer demand for all things digital, is leading to unprecedented cybersecurity challenges. While consumers are becoming more comfortable banking and shopping online, investments in maintaining security and preventing data theft and breaches often lag behind. Data breaches continue to make headlines in North America, with an estimated 60 million Americans being affected by identity theft. The U.S. also suffers from a higher attack rate overall, compared to Canada and the U.K.

As banks slowly become more like tech companies – with open APIs connecting the bank infrastructure with external entities – how do we balance data privacy and security – with convenience and a frictionless customer experience?

In this API economy, security must not be an afterthought. Incumbents and startups alike must take the necessary steps to safeguard consumers’ data and assets – and to provide the necessary mechanisms to educate consumers on the importance of cybersecurity hygiene. After all, humans are often the weakest link.

Using AI in cybersecurity

To help combat the increasing risks, organizations are starting to explore the use of AI in cybersecurity to help experts mitigate the risks from the increasingly sophisticated criminals. According to Capgemini, nearly one in five organizations used AI pre-2019; adoption is poised to skyrocket, with almost two out of three organizations planning to employ AI by 2020. This is not surprising as AI helps to improve response efficiency – which in turn saves time and money.

But no matter what frameworks and standards you use to try to “foolproof” secure systems, no matter how many monitoring applications you have, complete safety is never guaranteed. Continued diligence and governance is crucial and risks must be actively managed; developer enablement and training are also important.

Evaluations need to be conducted through past, present, and future – and there is no one size fits all solutions. Cybersecurity awareness, prevention, and security best practices must be part of the company’s culture.

Tune in to this week’s “The Other 50” via iTunes and Spotify, where Theo and Bradley chat with cybersecurity expert and influencer Alissa Knight, on her most recent project that has uncovered vulnerabilities in over 30 financial services mobile apps.

See more by Theodora and team here.

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