Today, finding the best investments takes more than looking for market leaders. The investors today look for companies that has secure systems apart from profit generation, huge market share, strong growth potential, or a reasonable valuation. cybersecurity is a crucial growth-oriented strategy for their portfolio.
Cybersecurity and defense theme are for every organization, company, investment banking industry, government and all sectors you can name. People are increasing their spending on cybersecurity to prevent embarrassing and costly breaches.
This article explains about the importance of cybersecurity in the investment industry.
Cybersecurity is the compelling theme for investment banking – the high-profile financial services industry. The cybersecurity system comes with an ever-growing ecosystem of protective technologies that include:
- Firewall to keep unauthorized users from accessing sensitive data
- Forensic firms to monitor traffic and audit systems for weakness or intrusions
- Antivirus programs to block malware, viruses, etc.
- Data protection through evolving forms of authentication, encryption, digital signatures, etc.
- And a lot more
Let us investigate how investment banking gets targeted by hackers.
Investment banking - the targets for cyberattack
Investment banks are targets for sophisticated cyberattacks and investment banks must invest in advanced cybersecurity solutions to protect the company’s IP and proprietary data. Some of the specific targets are briefed below.
Pending Merger and Acquisition transactions
A great deal of attacks occurs due to business negotiations for pending M&A transactions. The hackers try to hack the incredibly valuable information to misuse. The chances of a cyberattack are more if the industries are pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medicine, etc.
Top-level executives
There occurs a pervasive concern for the top-level executives like senior management and board of directors. It is a pressing concern for most executives. Cybersecurity must begin at the top and must have a structure that can recognize the business issues related to cybersecurity and deal with specific and ever-changing threats.
Mobile and tablets
Mobile and tablets of the investment banks and clients are the main targets. As these techno-gadgets serve as an effective platform for several activities, the functionality should protect customers’ privacy. It should prevent unauthorized access to clients’ or managements’ accounts.
The reactive cyber defense will no longer maintain effective security or regulatory compliance. At this stage, the investment banking industry must explore promising technologies to identify and prevent cyber incursions.
Let us look forward.
Adoption of new cybersecurity technologies: the solution for cyberattacks
Many investment banking industries are piloting voice biometrics that improves security and provide better customer experience during telephone transactions. Other cybersecurity strategies include social log-ins, content-based identification, identification of anomalies in network traffic, warning of possible threats or breaches.
Investment banks must encourage proper procedures to remove human errors, negligence, or failure to follow security protocols. A few of the procedures are as briefed below.
Autonomous devices
The security measures must encompass the risks to sensors, smart meters, physical tampering, data integrity, and unauthorized access. The team must comprehend and proactively address security implications.
IoT security
It is necessary to establish end-to-end security for the IoT data. As larger amounts of data are collected, processed and analysed by organizations for making decisions, it is critical to build a data assurance program.
Data security
Apply all the principles of information security across every aspect of data collection, management, and thereby secure humongous data.
Digital platforms
Maximize the protection across the enterprise by combining operational and security information. Protect every digital platform you rely on and securely respond to business. It enables you to establish and maintain customer trust. Never compromise on customers’ experiences.
A final note
Investment banks possess an enormous amount of sensitive information. Comprise of this information would lead to reputation damage and monetary losses. Adopt an active cybersecurity strategy to stay on the business.