Welcome to the connected world where everything you need to do is doable on a computer. From shopping to updating your checking account, you do not even have to leave home. You can use a desktop computer, a laptop, or even a smartphone to do banking transactions. For most of us, we trust banks and financial services to have top-notch data security.
You probably will not think twice about keying in your online bank password or doing financial transactions over the Internet. We also do not have any qualms in giving our credit cards over to cashiers who can then swipe them for our purchases.
We trust that our details are safe with them, right?
Not So Fast
A recent report called the Banking & Financial Services Cyber Threat Landscape Report might change your mind and shake your confidence. The report shows that data security attacks against financial service institutions are on the rise, at a much faster rate than their fraud and security teams can handle.
That number puts financial services institutions at top of the list among industries with the most number of data security attacks. It also represents a whopping 212 percent increase year on year. This increase in credit card leaks is alarming. Even with banks and financial institutions taking every step necessary to prevent it, cybercriminals are motivated to find ways to steal more.
That is especially true for companies in developing countries such as those in South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This might be because of the lack of external facing data security systems. The thing is, banks and card issuers might not even be at fault for these credit card leaks. For example, a malware operating at a store’s point of sale terminal could be the culprit. But banks are the ones who shoulder the cost of credit card fraud.
For banks and other financial services companies, it means that they really can’t just strengthen their own systems. However, fortifying your systems already takes too much time. How do you cope?
Consider hiring a managed security service provider (MSSP) that can help you monitor threats from the outside in. Not only can you focus more on your business, but there are a lot of benefits as well.
What MSSPs Can Do for You
For one, MSSPs have better knowledge and technologies about data security. Here’s the thing, more than three out of 10 security professionals admit to ignoring alerts because they just assume that these are false positives. Plus, around four in every ten think that the alerts they get are lacking in actionable intelligence.
Not only that, most companies are using a lot of security solutions. That setup is giving rise to inefficient data silos that can potentially harm your security. MSSPs already have superior technology. They have the best tools to handle every threat there is.
More than that, MSSPs offer endpoint protection as well as vulnerability scans, firewall management, logging and monitoring, vulnerability monitoring, and other security services. Some MSSPs are also employing artificial intelligence, machine learning, and just about every technology out there.
But more than the tools, you can hire a team of data security experts as well. These security experts will have know-how and access to information that will otherwise be unavailable to you. For instance, some of these security professionals might be monitoring the dark web to find out if there has been a new round of credit card numbers being sold. They can then notify you about this breach even before the hackers are able to sell these financial data. This allows you to avoid the costs of dealing with fraudulent transactions.
The best thing is that you can get better online security while also saving on your IT costs, and freeing up your resources so that they could focus on running your business.
Photo by Blue Coat Photos.
