2 min readThe financial services industry has significant room for improvement when it comes to meeting customer expectations. However, in the rush for financial services businesses to improve quickly, security is sometimes cast aside in favor of speed.
But even if projects need to be made quickly, consider the two sides of security:
Security as technology
Financial services businesses must pay obvious attention to the back end of security efforts. Moving legacy systems without updating security measures, creating an insufficient architecture, and failing to monitor systems are all simple ways that security can go awry in a technical sense. Systems fail, vulnerabilities arise, and data is hacked when technology is disregarded in hurried efforts to get solutions on the market.
Measures should be taken to ensure that any new financial solutions have up-to-date security systems in place to match evolving cyberattacks. For example, the notorious 2017 Equifax hack was due to a failure to patch systems. Take care to assess risk, build an appropriate architecture, and continuously monitor for ongoing attacks.
Security as behavior
Another, often forgotten, aspect of security is adjusting behaviors and trainings within the business. Even the most secure technology presents a liability if employees are not trained to recognize phishing attacks and malware.
For example, distributed ledger technology (DLT) is often thought to be one of the most secure solutions on the market. Yet, still, cyberattacks occur on the edge. For example, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck lost $530 million in a cryptocurrency theft. The source of the attack? Hackers gained access to the internet-connected repository where users store cryptocurrencies (the “hot wallet”). While the technology stayed intact, access to it was compromised.
Even if your financial business takes pains to ensure systems are secure, take time to train employees, administrators, and executives to recognize possible cyberattacks.
Learn more about keeping your financial business safe and your customer data secure in our latest white paper, “It’s Time to (Securely) Innovate Financial Services.”