With attempts by online hackers to steal confidential data on the rise, it is no surprise that financial institutions are one of their biggest targets. And given that 71% of all data breaches are financially motivated, financial institutions are naturally a perfect victim.
The cost of cyberattacks in the banking industry reached $18.3 million annually per company in 2020. In addition to monetary loss, a cybersecurity breach can also cause reputational damage that can make it difficult for businesses to earn new clients and customers. Maintaining the highest level of security is vital for ensuring that not only your customers’ data remains protected but also that your business can remain being seen as trustworthy.
With such an elevated level of threats in the financial sector, it is vital that these financial institutions invest in comprehensive cybersecurity and compliance services to protect themselves. Here is what your financial institution needs to be aware of when it comes to developing a robust cybersecurity plan for your business.
Cybersecurity Laws and Regulations for Financial Institutions
In order to protect customers’ data, there are several regulations that financial organizations need to be fully compliant with. These include the following:
- GLBA: The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is also known as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999. It requires that all financial institutions make it clear what they do to protect the private information of all of their customers. This means informing customers of how they will use their data as well as providing the right to opt-out of having their data shared with third-party organizations.
- FFIEC: The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council is an agency responsible for implementing consistent and uniform guidelines for procedures and practices across the whole financial industry. These guidelines focus on regulations for online banking, risk assessments, information security, and more.
- PCI DSS: The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard requires that all businesses that accept or process any form of payment card information protect this data in a secure manner. PCI DSS compliance is critical for most businesses.
- SOX: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is also known as SOX establishes requirements for the secure storage and management of corporate-facing electronic financial records. This includes the monitoring, logging, and auditing of certain activities.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reaffirmed the importance of response and resilience as they relate to business continuity, the role of authentication, and the need to securely configure systems and services to prevent and mitigate the severity of an attack.
With the high-risk of persistent threat associated with running your organization, the many areas in which you need to be compliant, as well as the need to protect your organization’s reputation among customers, it is therefore vital that you take direct measures.
By employing the expertise of a Managed Service Provider your financial institution will benefit from support across a range of cybersecurity services that are designed to protect your business whilst ensuring that you are always fully compliant with necessary regulations.
A Managed Service Provider is able to provide 24/7/365 system monitoring, by using a Security Operation Center that centralizes compliance management, and threat monitoring. which will protect your digital infrastructure while identifying and patching vulnerabilities immediately. This proactive response will mitigate risk and reduce overall downtime, saving your business time and money.
As a financial institution that stores highly sensitive information, your organization should ensure it is investing in comprehensive cybersecurity to avoid the detriments that come with a data breach. As you work with a professional to secure your systems and establish compliance, you can protect your data and maintain customer loyalty.
For more information, you can schedule a call with our experts here or download a copy of our Financial Services Compliance Checklist.
