Cybersecurity risks within the financial sector

The financial services industry is undoubtedly going through a major shift, driven by the fintech wave of new products, operators and ways of doing business.  Accounting for shifts in technology, laws & regulations and global realities can be quite a daunting and time-intensive task.

Taking a step back and reflecting on your long-term challenges and opportunities can be worthwhile as you plan ahead. Your firm’s past successful tried-and-tested methods might not be compatible with your objectives for the future.

Cyberattacks against financial services operators and other sectors have grown in number, size, and sophistication. Criminals target the financial services industry because that’s where the money is, and cybercrime not only hasn’t changed this, but it has increased the efficiency and ultimately the consequences of such crimes. It is critical to balance openness with security, and as attacks continue to increase, the pressure to act mounts.

What does the road ahead look like? Social engineering continues to adapt and migrate more aggressively towards social media to phish users into downloading and running malware. While cybercrime is predominantly a networking problem, it also includes crime arising from internal sources such as insider trading, theft and cyber vandalism. An increased focus on internal risk analysis to protect against criminal behavior and compromised (likely unknowingly) workers is a must.

Recognizing that vulnerabilities do exist and will be exploited is the first step to improving the way systems are designed, teams trained, and risks managed. There are two kinds of financial services firms: those that have faced a cyberattack and those that will, and with fraud incidents, both online and offline, increasing by more than 130% in 2017, cybersecurity is becoming increasingly critical.

Join us and our guests on the 26^th of March for our free morning event, “Intelligent Security through Technology - The role of Cloud and AI within Financial Services”, ideal if you're a CIO, CISO, CTO, Head of Risk, Head of IT Security or Head of Audit within the Financial Services industry. We will zoom in on a number of security related topics and share with you how we think that a set of technologies, and especially cloud and AI solutions, can truly provide the right insights and tools to your organisation’s security and compliance requirements.

This article was based on research conducted by PwC. For additional insights you can read the full report here.