3 Big Cybersecurity Concerns for Financial Service Providers

Author: Kelley Donald - MarCom/Friday, August 19, 2022/Categories: Business Internet

While the news media and now government agencies are hyper-focused on ransomware for large organizations, identity theft and financial fraud with digital tools remain the top cybersecurity concerns for the financial industry. While on the one hand, the Internet has made it extremely possible to interact and set up operations globally, it has also created permanent access to the very systems companies need to protect as well. And, no matter how well defended, cybercriminals are out there determined to find new ways to get in.

Ransomware Continues

Perpetrated through various penetrations and social engineering, ransomware continues to be a money-maker for cybercriminals. For years they were satisfied with small to medium-sized businesses and shaking out $5,000 to $10,000 at a time, but some got greedy with big whale targets and put the entire criminal activity into the spotlight as a result. Unfortunately, that hasn’t slowed down the number of attacks.

Phishing Attacks

Utilizing social media for free personal information, phishing attacks are on the rise through an old-fashioned tool, direct email. Simply getting people to click on bad links has been enough to easily inject trojans and access hacks, particularly into online accounts. Once opened, the account is easy to compromise for ransom. Online email accounts such as Gmail and Microsoft Hotmail have long been repeat targets, but company email accounts are now being funneled into as well with fake correspondences from supposed internal contacts.

Data Theft and Manipulation

Ransomware isn’t just about locking up systems to stop anyone from using those computers. It can also include data theft from a system and the demand for its return. This has been a common problem and continues in 2022 as digital black markets pay big bucks for confidential data. The common threat tends to be copying the data en masse, holding it for ransom, and then releasing the data to a black market if the victim doesn’t pay up (sometimes it gets released anyway even if the ransom is paid, gaining the thief a double profit).

Remote Employees

With so many workers operating remotely, cybersecurity risks have skyrocketed. IT managers are pulling their hair out trying to keep devices safe and secure for remote connections, oftentimes resorting to cloud environments to protect their core networks from remote vulnerabilities. Ransomware culprits love remote workers because many don’t keep up with their software patches and personal equipment security tools.

State-Sponsored Attacks

The second big financial services risk in 2022 is from other countries and entities hostile to the U.S. Unfortunately, financial services companies are digital targets for hostile countries to use for disruption, especially with the Internet allowing culprits to attack from the safety of their own borders. Whether it’s a penetration of a company’s website or a physical attack on a street-level ATM machine, coordinated efforts are clearly in vogue.

DDoS Attacks

A traditional approach to taking down a targeted company website, a dedicated denial of service overwhelms a server to the point that it crashes and can’t help anyone. It’s not a security breach per se, but DDoS works well if the goal is plain chaos and shutting down service. Paypal has been repeatedly attacked this way, for example.

Cloud Providers and Third-Party Vendors

Unfortunately, so many support services are being outsourced online that companies may not know who they are dealing with half the time. State-sponsored attacks are repeatedly occurring through support vendors who look innocent but are based in foreign countries hostile to the victim’s market. As more and more companies move to the cloud, third-party providers become the Achilles Heel for many operations with hybrid cloud models.

Supply Chain Attacks

Given the vulnerability evidenced during the COVID pandemic, supply chain attacks are going to ramp up for intentional disruption of resources. The fragility of the modern supply system makes it a big target, creating indirect headaches for financing supply cycles.

Employee Errors

Internal weaknesses represent the third big risk area in 2022 for financial service providers. If their own employees continue to be the weakest link, attacks will continue to focus on people versus systems.

Identity & Credential Theft

A classic approach for accessing a system, the goal is to obtain authorized access for penetration. Employees who don’t watch their passwords or use public networks to do work make this risk extremely easy to take advantage of in 2022.

Regulatory Inaction

Many security issues are already known, but they cost money to implement. Companies won’t push their people to improve until they are required to comply with newer regulations specific to the latest technology used in the financial industry. Increased internal audits, reviews, disaster recovery training, and general IT education training for the workforce can go a long way in nullifying this concern. Again, however, companies keep trying to save pennies and end up paying millions in damages as a result.

Partnering With a Proven Defense Resource

Consolidated Communications has continued to be a proven partner with high-tech security architecture and network system development. Whether it’s fending off DDoS attacks or maintaining penetration-free networks invulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks, our focus on fiber technology for robust data traffic capacity while maintaining secure channels is hard to beat compared to other data transit resources.

Consolidated Communications brings trusted expertise to the table for your companies’ employees and customers simultaneously, protecting your assets while also keeping your customers’ data secure as well. The world continues to get riskier online, but your business doesn’t have to be the next victim. Contact us today to find out more and receive an evaluation of your organization’s security.

 

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