Essential Cybersecurity Measures for Financial Institutions

As the financial system increasingly relies on digital infrastructure, it becomes a cyberattack target. Attackers steal money and gain the knowledge they can sell or use to launch disruptive or destructive attacks.

To reduce the risks posed by cyber threats, they can establish cybersecurity in the financial industry. These include implementing cybersecurity practices, monitoring threats round-the-clock, and training their staff. To ensure security, here are six crucial cybersecurity steps that all financial institutions should follow.

Secure Your Network

To protect against constantly evolving cybersecurity threats, financial institutions must be diligent in implementing and updating their security measures. Neglecting to do so can result in significant financial losses, legal liabilities, and loss of customer trust.

The first step to a secure network is to conduct a thorough risk assessment. This involves inventorying all computer systems that store clients’ personal information (i.e., PHISs). It also includes the methods for data sharing, processing, and exchange. Then, financial institutions can identify and address vulnerabilities to prevent cyberattacks.

In addition, financial institutions should be aware of the standards and laws that pertain to them. Moreover, financial institutions should ensure their third-party service providers have adequate cybersecurity measures. This is particularly important if those third parties are outside the financial institution’s country. Otherwise, a breach at one company could expose the bank’s client information to hackers from a different country.

It is common for financial institutions to employ third-party services to manage their IT infrastructure. However, it is important to ensure those third-party services have adequate cybersecurity measures to protect the bank’s information and data. Implementing consistent security controls across all third-party systems a financial institution uses is also a good idea.

Secure Your Data

Cybersecurity refers to an arrangement of technologies, protocols, and methods to guard against attacks, malware, viruses, hacking, data theft, and unauthorized access to networks, devices, programs, and data. Its use is growing in the financial industry as banks increasingly deal with valuable customer information and sensitive financial transactions.

In a digital world, cyberattacks are increasing in sophistication. As a result, banking professionals must understand and learn from past incidents to prevent future attacks. A successful attack can lead to significant financial losses, legal liabilities, and reputational damage.

Encrypting sensitive information is one of the most effective methods of ensuring it remains safe and secure. This practice is required by various standards, such as ISO/IEC 27001, GLBA, GDPR, and PCI DSS, and has proven effective in preventing customer data loss or misuse. Encryption solutions provide several benefits, including reducing risk, improving compliance, and lowering operating costs.

Today’s dispersed workplace requires advanced cybersecurity measures to prevent insider threats and protect employees’ data. Cloud computing, broadband connectivity, and powerful collaboration tools allow employees to work remotely, increasing their vulnerability to cyberattacks. 

Train Your Employees

Your employees are a key part of your security team, and they need to understand the importance of cybersecurity. Ensure everyone is up to speed on your company’s data privacy and security policies and any additional information specific to their role.

In addition, it’s important to train your employees on basic password security and safe internet browsing habits. This can be essential to your employee onboarding program, so it’s ingrained. Additionally, it’s important to include training on social engineering scams, as hackers often use this tactic to trick employees into sharing their credentials. Especially for employees that handle customer information or sensitive data, this type of training is critical.

Lastly, training employees on your company’s cyberattack reporting procedure is essential. Not only does this ensure that you’re following all the proper guidelines for addressing a cyberattack, but it also makes your employees feel like they are an important part of the team that keeps the company secure.

In addition, you should consider specialized training for your contractors, freelancers, and vendors that may not work onsite but still have access to your data or devices. This group is usually overlooked in your standard employee training programs, but they are also at high risk for cyberattacks.

Educate Your Customers

Financial data security is crucial for banks and other businesses because cyberattacks can compromise customer information and cause financial fraud. Furthermore, businesses in the finance industry must abide by many different financial compliance regulations. This makes them a prime target for hackers who seek to access and monetize sensitive data. A single cyberattack can damage a bank’s reputation and cost it millions.

A well-defined incident response plan (IRP) helps businesses identify and respond to cybersecurity incidents. A good IRP will include clearly defined response scenarios, who the primary point of contact is in case of an attack, and how the business will restore lost data or systems after a breach occurs.

Financial institutions can use various methods to communicate with customers about the importance of cybersecurity measures. This can be done through email, branch signage, and social media. These communications should emphasize that a data breach caused by a lack of appropriate measures can easily lead to consumers moving their business elsewhere.

Banking companies can also use network insight products to identify potential vulnerabilities and risks. These tools provide a centralized view of all the different cybersecurity measures in the company and can help find gaps that must be addressed. By using these solutions, banks can make sure they have the best cybersecurity measures in place and are prepared for any attacks that may come their way.