Page 129 - Cyber Defense eMagazine January 2023

Another problem is that companies often fail to meet the compliance requirements (such as GDPR) for
using this kind of customer data and get into legal issues or simply spend a lot of resources on meeting
these requirements.

Gathering sensitive customer information is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can fuel analytics,
improve customer experience, and help provide personalized service. On the other, it can become your
most significant security liability.

With that in mind, here are some ways in which the finance industry can protect customer data more
effectively:

• Make sure all customer data access is monitored and logged
• Ensure you have clear and deterministic data access and security policies
• Enforce the access policies across all data access
• Make sure that access that is not required permanently is given only for the required time
• Make sure you know where your sensitive data is, and prioritize its security over non-sensitive
data.

2. Ransomware threats

Ransomware attacks lock banking clients out of their computers and encrypt them with malicious
software. Victims are then extorted for cash or information by attackers. In most cases, they don’t get
back access to their devices or accounts.

Because of this, financial institutions must train their employees continuously and adopt machine-
intelligent security systems for emails and social media.

Invest in security training

Continuous training keeps everyone on their toes and updated on the latest types of attacks. People with
proper training can spot malicious emails, social media messages, and links to prevent getting caught in
a trap.

Adopt intelligent security solutions

Machine-intelligent systems can block and flag suspicious messages, emails, and organizations. They
understand context, organizational behaviors, communication relationships and use this understanding
to detect messages falling outside the norm.

These systems profile communications. For example, machine learning systems can learn about genuine
inquiries customers send, complaints, issues, or questions. They can build a pattern of how customers
communicate, what words they use, and what they include in their messages.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – January 2023 Edition 129
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