The Most Vulnerable Part Of An Attack Surface Is Users

A 2020 Accenture research reported that security teams in the financial services sector are experiencing even more exacting demands as they defend their organizations under new and unexpected threats as experienced with the global pandemic. The report, 2020 Future Cyber Threats: details the latest extreme but plausible threat scenarios in financial services.

At a recent webinar hosted by CIO Africa in conjunction with Trend Micro, it occurred that these threats continue to grow in velocity, all thanks to new technologies.

“Financial institutions are subjected to ever-increasing cybersecurity breaches such as hacking and malware,” said Tony Muiyuro, the Associate Director of Cybersecurity, Privacy & Trusted Technology at Ernst and Young. “Such breaches are the leading causes of data breaches in financial services.” Tony was speaking while moderating a four-man security panel during the virtual webinar.

Also speaking at the panel was Indi Siriniwasa, the Vice President, Sub-Saharan Africa at TrendMicro. He noted that traditional system protection is no longer good enough, and a protective framework must be added to the financial data to enhance protection even in the event of a security breach.

He said, “The most vulnerable part of an attack surface is users.” Adding, “With growing advancement in malware and cyber attacks, security for financial services is not enough.”

Harrison Nnaji, CISO at First Bank Nigeria opined that with the growing need for internet and mobile banking, financial services customers no longer go to brick and mortar branches to seek services. For this reason, he observed that security in the world of emerging tech can never be underestimated.

“People no longer wish to visit bank branches, they appreciate the convenience of internet banking. This means that cybersecurity is no longer a business enabler but promoter,” he said. “As a promoter, cybersecurity must be present at every stage of business growth.”

Now, keeping in mind that as businesses financial institutions have complex, interdependent supply chains, they are susceptible to broad, target-rich attacks.

Trend Micro is fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, together with a cybersecurity platform that protects 500,000+ organizations and 250+ million individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. They help make the world safe for exchanging digital information., the financial services industry players are not an exception.