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Cyber Security in the Financial Services Sector
It doesn’t take much imagination to realise that financial organisations of all kinds are highly prized by cybercriminals.
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Financial sector at the forefront of cyber security
To operate effectively, businesses and other financial services organisations store, share and manage an enormous wealth of diverse information, making them obvious targets for cybercriminals. While many members of the industry usually have the budget to invest in the latest security, the most organised and advanced cybercriminal groups have also invested large sums on sophisticated tools to breach defences. And they too collaborate to achieve their goals.
Many of the negative trends observed by cyber security analysts and researchers from the past ten years continued and even amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. This made the already-serious challenge of designing, building and operating effective cyber security infrastructure and keeping it up to date even harder. More recent international events such as the war in Ukraine have made the picture more complex, yet the chance of an unexpected cyber incident happening at any time hangs over most organisations.
Financial institutions are responsible for securing the data that they store and share externally, and this means that they need to continually invest in skilled professionals and the latest technology to reduce risks for themselves, their business partners and their customers. The data they manage is a gold mine for financially motivated cybercriminals and also, in some cases, for state-sponsored threat actors.
Every organisation can take decisive action to reduce exposure to existing cyber threats, and plan and prepare adequately for potential incidents.
It’s no surprise that cybercriminals find the financial sector to be a profitable target
65%
Percentage of cyber security incidents that UK financial services providers reported to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2021 as being cyber-attacks
52%
Increase in the number of cyber security incidents targeting UK financial services providers in 2021 – FCA
£32,000
Average cost of a cyber incident to organisations in the UK's financial services sector in 2021 - Statista
Highest risks for the financial sector
Unsurprisingly, cyber security is a major concern for most companies and institutions in the industry, with the increasing frequency of incidents raising their exposure to risk.
Securing a vast vault of data
As well as data about financial transactions, organisations store and share an enormous range of sensitive, confidential, private and personal data, which would be highly valuable to cybercriminal gangs or state-sponsored threat actors.
Phishing
Phishing is one of the most common types of cyber-attacks in the industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of employees in a multitude of roles, in addition to working with a huge number of third-party suppliers.
Ransomware attacks
Arguably the most serious type of cyber-attack facing businesses today, and certainly the one which can be the most expensive to resolve for any organisation in any industry.
Hybrid working models
With such a large headcount, many employees now work from home for part of the week, increasing the risk for phishing attacks and devices being lost or stolen. A hybrid workforce with different working habits provides more opportunities for cybercriminals.
Online services
Millions of people and thousands of businesses use online financial services every day, opening up the attack surface for threat actors.
Trust and confidence
Trust and confidence are crucial in the financial industry and that goes for businesses’ cyber security too. It can take time to regain any trust lost after a security breach.
Insider risks and threats
High financial stakes sometimes come with the added risk of threats from inside an organisation. This problem is much more difficult for companies to identify, prove and prevent because current and former employees or contractors have knowledge of, and access to, the company’s computer systems and security practices.
Highly targeted by threat actors
By their very nature, any organisation that manages money, regardless of their security maturity, is obviously on the wish-list of financially motivated cybercriminals.
Vulnerabilities in third-party supply chains
All financial services bodies purchase products and services from third-party suppliers. Threat actors look for the easiest way into any company and will probe the supply chain for weaknesses in order to break into their primary target.
Large number of endpoints
Naturally, such a large workforce using so many digital tools and services means a very large number of endpoints in each organisation’s IT ecosystem, which, in turn, creates an attack surface that needs to be protected around the clock.
Why trust us to be your cyber security partner?
As a verified Microsoft Solutions Partner for Security and a member of the Microsoft Intelligence Security Association (MISA), Quorum Cyber was the first cyber security company headquartered in the UK, and one of a handful worldwide, to be verified by Microsoft for its Managed Extended Detection and Response (XDR) service.
Our reason for being is to help defend your organisation against existing and emerging cyber security breaches and attacks, ensuring you can focus on your business goals in confidence in an increasingly unpredictable and fast-changing digital environment. Combining human ingenuity and creativity with the very latest automated security tools, our certified teams secure your entire IT ecosystem every minute of every day.
Reduce your cyber security risk 365 days a year
Round-the-clock detection and response, delivered by our certified teams in the UK
Comply with all industry regulations
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Protect your brand and your reputation
Our experienced cyber security team defends your assets and data – and those of your customers – and protects your brand’s reputation in the market.
Cyber Security Services for Financial Institutions
At Quorum Cyber, we provide end-to-end cyber security services to protect complex, fast-moving financial organisations, large and small, whether they operate in one region, one country or trade around the globe.
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