Reliable ways to secure Financial Services firms
Financial Services is a heavily regulated industry, alongside general legal requirements for Data Loss Prevention, Financial Services firms have additional Anti-Money Laundering requirements.
Aside from regulation Financial Services firms are often the target of complex cyberattacks on account of how money is naturally exchanged through the sector. This can range from broad-brush attacks that affect systems such as Terminal Servers, to Spoofing campaigns where your business’ reputation is used to extract money from your clients.
Altogether this means that Financial Services firms find it difficult to operate without considered investment to protect their IT systems.
Financial Services and Zero-Trust
You should be familiar with the concept of Zero-Trust, that is to say restricting access and information to only those individuals who have a relevant need for it. In practice this means acting on a ‘need-to-know’ basis and administering Information Systems along the same lines.
It is however the case that even if an individual is permitted access to client-data for a period of time, data can sometimes still be accessible even when it is no longer needed. This could be the result of copying data locally or permissions not being revoked. Without oversight of this many organisations fall foul of Data Protection laws.
Financial Services firms need to invest in comprehensive Endpoint Security as a result of this. Through solutions such as Panda Security Data Control an organisation can easily identify, report on and remove information when it is no longer necessary. This is an effective way to demonstrate compliance to the ICO and to key stakeholders such as the Data Protection Officer.
With regard to IT Security the ICO has made it clear organisations need to have appropriate measures in place to protect the data they hold. Especially sensitive information such as Financial Data must have sufficient protections in place.
The rise of Ransomware attacks since the beginning of 2020 has also meant an increased risk of exfiltration of data so that attackers have a card to play should businesses not wish to pay the ransom. This information also has market-value amongst criminal gangs and can be sold as its own ‘product’ by cybercriminals. Add to this that it is also illegal to financially support criminal organisations and suffering a databreach becomes enormously expensive.
Financial Services firms must implement a Zero-Trust security model that ensures that their IT systems are sufficiently secure to operate on. Hayachi Services recommend only one Endpoint Detection and Response solution for this – Adaptive Defense 360.
Adaptive Defense 360 provides Managed Security Services as part-and-parcel of the service, delivering unmatched value through a 100% attestation service. This solution ensures you can rest assured that the only approved software and files can exist on their IT system – removing the threat of ransomware completely.
Security which is first among equals
Protecting yourself from Malware (which includes Ransomware) does not offer complete protection for Financial Services firms. Truly comprehensive IT Security is only delivered by using a portfolio of leading security vendors.
Opswat provide a solution to this problem through their patented technologies which can load dozens of anti-virus engines. Of particular interest to Financial Services firms is the Proactive Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution, one among a suite of IT Security Solutions they design.
Nothing can better demonstrate the care an organisation places on client-data than having a DLP solution which ensures information is not lost across the estate and through all channels of communication. Opswat’s Proactive DLP is trusted by leading banks, government and infrastructure providers such as in energy.
At Hayachi Services we work with the largest Financial Services institution in the world (you can take a guess who that is) to ensure they can operate secure infrastructure without reducing performance. This is among much smaller outfits including independent financial advisers.
Securing Financial Services is a difficult challenge that can only be tackled by providing comprehensive and complimentary solutions – no one solution can secure a business. It is however the case that you can still maintain the integrity of your organisation by choosing leading solutions such as those explored in this article.
