How to Boost Cybersecurity in Fintech and Banking
Nowadays, the trending topic is how to boost cybersecurity in fintech and banking. The reason is straight & simple cybercrimes in the first quarter of the year 2022 have increased 2.5 times to the previous year. Not only this but also digital payments have also increased massively.
Evidently, we can say it’s time to learn practices for cybersecurity in the finance & banking industries. There are several strategies that organizations have to work on to make their environment robust and free from all kinds of threats and risks.
Let’s have a look at the growth of the BFSI sector recently due to which we are talking about cybersecurity in this industry. Then we will focus on the best practices as well to counter cyber crimes confidently.
The Rapid Growth of Digital Transactions Recently
Before learning how to boost cybersecurity in & banking, it’s crucial to know the growth of digital transactions in this industry. For that, below are some stats that can give you an idea of how big this market is for scammers & hackers.
- Approximately $50 billion+ are invested in Fintech each year.
- Every year, more than 500 Fintech companies are coming into existence.
- India is leading digital payments with a value of $300 billion in the year 2021.
- Almost 78% of Americans now prefer digital payments instead of traditional methods.
- Moreover, China, South Korea, Thailand, the UK, Japan, etc are also on the list with India & US.
- PayPal in America, PayTM in India, and Alipay in China, are leading Fintech companies right now.
These numbers may give you an idea of how big this industry is. The simple reason for this is that people globally rely on these payment methods because of their convenience.
Why & How to Boost Cybersecurity in Banking & Finance
When we look at the reason why we need to boost cybersecurity in fintech firms, we get an answer that shocks almost everyone. hackers, spammers, fraudsters, etc. are manipulating the loopholes present in this sector to take advantage & execute cyber crimes.
Some of the statistics are mentioned below:
- Globally, over 75% of people can’t retrieve their money after facing final cybercrime issues.
- Approximately more than 40-50% of Indians & Americans have faced financial cyber crimes.
- China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the UK, Nigeria, Brazil, etc are also getting affected.
We were talking in billions till now which is also a huge number. However, now the statistics are going to blow your mind when we have a look at the numbers as per financial analysts.
As per the forecasting of financial analysts globally, by the year 2025, cybercrimes will cost over 10.5$ trillion in the world annually. Yes, this is indeed a huge number. Hence, we need to learn how to boost cybersecurity in the banking & financial sectors.
Policy Creation for Cybersecurity in Finance & Banking
Users must understand that they have to create robust policies that can make solid foundations for the organization. It helps in better risk management & acts as an initial wall for cybercrimes. Below are a few factors that users need to keep in mind for boosting cybersecurity.
- Setting up objectives, end goals & future expectations.
- Selecting and implementing the best security frameworks.
- Sessions for security processes, and tools for the entire staff.
- Quick implementation of reliable incident response teams.
- Making robust disaster management strategies for the firm.
- 24×7 Monitoring along with establishing roles & responsibilities.
- Frequent updates of policies along with building cyber resilience.
How to Boost Cybersecurity in Banking Using AI & ML Technologies
Artificial intelligence & Machine learning are now getting better & better every day. If hackers can use them to attack, why can’t we use them to secure our digital infrastructure?
AI, ML, as well as analytics are playing an important role in the detection of potential threats at the early stage. In addition, there are no worries when it comes to the analysis of large-volume databases using AI. It can be a huge helping aid for Fintech firms globally.
Below is the list of threats that organizations can detect in real-time without any hassles using AI & ML. This can act as leverage for increasing the security standards even more.
- Emerging Risks
- Financial Frauds
- Anomalous Acts & Events
- Well-Known Security Threats
- Unauthorized Access & Restricted Data Usage
Initiate “Secure by Design” Policies
In order to improve cybersecurity in finance, organizations should focus on making all the websites, APIs, and Apps secure by design.
There are majorly 4 steps here that can play a significant role in improving security standards. These four are mentioned below respectively.
- Integration of Security in Early Software Development Life Cycle Stages
- Select Specific Frameworks, Libraries as well as Other Components
- Fix all the Buggy Codes in the Early Stages After Frequent Testing
- Smartly Counter Vulnerabilities Prior to the Release
24×7 Threat Monitoring with Accuracy
We all know that attackers don’t take breaks. In order to boost cybersecurity in fintech & banking, continuous monitoring is what we need. When we know that BFSI is always under attack, it’s crucial to have 24×7 monitoring throughout the year. It’s easy to resist complex threats at the initial stage after detection by using this:
- Global Threat Intelligence Platforms
- Contextual awareness Campaigns
- Customized Rules & Regulations
SOC – Security Operations Center
It’s crucial for organizations to get SOC as a service. Evidently, managed Security Operations Center simply focus on identifying, investigating, preventing as well as quickly responding to Cyber incidents.
Dynamic Vulnerability Management for Improved Cybersecurity in Banking
We all know that attackers are always in search of vulnerabilities, loopholes & weaknesses of these Fintech firms. It can provide hackers with weak entry points into the secure financial network. Users should mainly focus on three aspects here to make their vulnerability management better than before.
Identify, Evaluate and Hierarchize the vulnerabilities in order to minimize the surface area that attackers are most likely to target. Goldendewtech offers Expert VAPT Services for reducing risks.
How to Boost Cybersecurity in Fintech Firms with Zero Trust Technique
The zero trust technique is catchy at first look. However, it means that no employee, user, or anyone should have access to critical data assets without verification. This small step can help in creating more physical security as well as digital security more robust.
As per a survey report of a Fintech firm where this zero trust technique was implemented, admins were able to prevent:
- Data Theft by Hackers
- Escalation of Privileges
- Insider Threats Issues
- Critical Brute Force Attacks
Management of Third-Party Risks
The BFSI sector has to use third-party components, services as well as APIs. However, nowadays risks with third-party service providers are getting higher and higher. In order to boost security standards, experts recommend trusting any third-party service or component only after deep verification.
This extra step of precaution can help users with better cybersecurity in banking sectors. No doubt users can easily escalate the security standard by this.
Create Backups that Can Overcome Ransomware
Make sure to frequently take the backup of the crucial data files to prevent any mishappening. Firms should also keep in mind that they should store the backups at secure places where ransomware can’t affect that. There is a small checklist for this to boost cybersecurity in the finance sector:
- Keep your secure backups in offline locations in or outside your premises.
- Try to increase the frequency of your backups to minimize definite data loss.
- Make sure to use immutable storage components for your sensitive data files.
- Integrate your servers by having a backup with anti-malware protection utilities.
Promote Cybersecurity in Finance As a Culture
Make sure to promote cybersecurity among friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, etc. Try to make everyone aware of the cybercrimes that attackers are relying on. To execute this in the organization, below are the effective measures mentioned:
- Cyber Awareness for Campaigns for Employees
- Help Users Identify and Avoid Ongoing Financial Scams
- Don’t Hesitate to Report Malicious Acts & Events Especially in Fintech Firms
The Final Say
Now, in the end, we can say that users should understand that learning how to boost cybersecurity in fintech is really crucial. We have mentioned all the practices to avoid cyber crimes in the above article. Hopefully, we will get to see various advanced technology integrations in the future to make cybercrimes even easier to detect than now.