BFC Bulletins Monthly News Digest
Tags Cybersecurity
Financial institutions take many measures to eliminate vulnerabilities, but the fact is everything can be hacked. Last year, for example, more than 70 million cyber-attacks were committed on financial objects in Russia, costing financial institutions more than RUB 1.35 billion. Perhaps most alarming is that the measures many financial institutions take are often not followed and, even when followed, are unreliable for the most recent technological advances. Although many financial institutions are starting to catch up by standardizing the use of multi-factor authentication, new approaches to protect sensitive information are necessary, especially as technology continues to develop and moves to new platforms with new vulnerabilities.
Modern data encryption tools provide some measure of hope, however. They are an effective and relatively painless way for securing information as they do not disrupt operations or performance, are easy to manage, require minimal resources and are often “set and forget” for the vast majority of users. That being said, financial institutions must always be on guard. With new technology and new security measures come new ways of hacking them. And encryption should never be seen as an all-in-one solution for all cybersecurity issues. Financial institutions must have a holistic, integrated approach to protect information, including: regular software updates, password policies, multifactor authentications, antivirus protection and regular and appropriate trainings for employees on all cybersecurity threats and measures.
