FSI organisations have been under increased pressure to continue to deliver an array of services. All remote and hybrid working are being adjusted by them. Also, they are supporting consumers with loans and Government-backed payment schemes.
The key to the pandemic response was adaptability, availability, and speed. Security and compliance are back on top as one of the most important factors for FSI organisations to focus on. Cybercrime has evolved during the pandemic. Cybercrime is now comparable to the global drugs trade with regards to the level of profit and syndication involved in cyber criminal’s operations. Attackers evade detection with high levels of sophistication. The money is moved extremely quick.
They are also potentially liable for additional costs when protecting their consumers from being the victims of scams and fraud. Insurers are having to pay out large sums when victims of ransomware and email compromise claims. Research from Microsoft revealed that the three key areas FSI organisations need to protect against when it comes to the changing threat landscape, with each being operationally, reputationally and financially damaging. Phishing is the most common cyber threat, with 70% of all attacks. Their emails are designed to trick an individual into sharing sensitive information, such as usernames and passwords. The attachments may also contain malware, designed to be released on to endpoints and into the target network.
Next, ransomware is another most operationally impacting cybercrimes. Here the criminal actors performing reconnaissance on a target victim to infiltrate their critical infrastructure and potentially gaining access to financial documents and insurance policies. Ransomware has grown to include a variety of extortion techniques enabled by human intelligence. Next, malicious email in terms of quantity, business email compromise (BEC) is becoming a growing concern and could be considered the most financially impacting cybercrime. Email compromise is one of the growth areas of cyberattacks. BEC attacks occur when an attacker pretends to be a legitimate businessperson. It benefits from the complexity of financial accounting, by monitoring financial or business-related messages to intercept.
Technologies such as cloud, AI, data analytics and multi-factor authentication can all play a crucial role in protecting FSI’s critical infrastructure against cyberattacks. Many FSI organisations are reconsidering their business models. They have seen a shift in emphasis over the last few years. The agility and flexibility the cloud can provide, is having access to threat intelligence and trend reports. They are actively monitoring a variety of different threat actors globally. FSI organisations stand the best chance of defending against cyberattacks. And that is by being empowered with knowledge and supported in their security and compliance objectives. Cloud service providers have a huge role to play in the future of cybersecurity. This is not just for protecting companies, but also protecting nations as well.
