Cyber attacks against financial services firms have become more frequent and sophisticated.

Many of these attacks are designed to gain continuous access to critical information, to perpetrate fraud or to cause damage to critical infrastructures. These attacks can significantly impact companies not only in terms of monetary losses but also in terms of credibility and reputation.

A recent global survey by PWC reported that cybercrime was reported across a range of sectors, but worryingly it pointed out how vulnerable financial services organisations were to this particular type of crime – 39% of respondents from this sector said they had been affected.

However, in our experience the real proportion of cyber crime in this sector is much higher than many of these financial organisations realise.

From a range of vulnerability assessments and proof of concepts that Smarttech have conducted, we identified that financial services organisations do not always understand, analyse and log the security breaches on their network. Many of these networks have active C&C (Command and Control malware) and this gap in security leaves them exposed to more complex cyber threats in spite of any existing cyber defence.

To address these cyber security challenges, financial services organisations must fundamentally change how they think about security. Updating technology and following best practices are not enough; combating attacks requires a more pragmatic approach that informs every decision and procedure.

–   Build a risk-aware culture. Typically humans are the weakest link and because attacks can come from anywhere, it is crucial to determine your security risks and goals and then spread the word to everyone within the company. This must come from the top down, and tools should be implemented to track progress.

–  Automate security “hygiene.” A robust, security-rich system can help you keep track of every program that is running and make it possible to install updates and patches as they are released. This “hygiene” process should be routine and embedded in the foundation of your systems administration.

–  Manage incidents with intelligence. A company-wide effort to implement intelligent analytics and automated response capabilities is essential. Creating an automated and unified system that implements intelligent analytics can help you better monitor your operations and respond more quickly.

Ultimately, cyber security has moved into the world of big data and companies need to be able to detect, anlayse, adapt and respond within a moments notice.  The platforms to provide this level of security analysis are now available and called SIEM (System Information Event Management) By bundling this technology with vulnerability assessment and threat intelligence companies and drastically improve their security posture.

Author: Ronan Murphy, CEO

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