In order to prevent sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands, many large banks install sophisticated software and take as many preventative steps as possible to keep cyber criminals out of and away from their banking systems. But despite these efforts, a 2016 IBM report found that data breaches involving businesses in the financial services industry are still on the rise. There were reportedly more than 200 million financial services records that were leaked in 2016 alone, according to Business Insider, which represented a 937 percent increase from the previous year. Additionally, IBM found that financial services firms were attacked by cyber criminals about 65 percent more often than all of the other industries in the IBM study combined.
To combat this disturbing trend, banks have vowed to fight even harder to stop cyber criminals from gaining unauthorized access to the sensitive data that they are supposed to protect. But the IBM report indicates that, while they are taking what appear to be the right steps on the software side of things, banks are doing a poor job when it comes to educating their employees about how to avoid data breaches. As a result, many of the data breaches that occurred in 2016—about 60 percent of them—took place due to human error. In most cases, employees inadvertently downloaded malware to their work computers after falling victim to phishing scams and opened up their banks to cyber criminal activity.
The solution to this big problem is pretty simple, according to IBM. Banks need to make a much better effort to teach their employees about cybersecurity. This won’t solve all of the problems banks face, but it will address one of their biggest issues and cut down on some of the cyber crimes that plague the financial services sector. By overhauling the security culture among bank employees, banks can protect the sensitive data located in their systems.
At Intelex, Ltd., we specialize in collecting, researching, and producing high-quality intelligence for businesses in a variety of industries. If your company is struggling to combat fraud, employee misconduct, internal theft and more, our investigative branch can help. Give us a call today at (203) 921 0316 to learn more.