Banking Industry: Gearing Up For Next Generation Of Cyber Security

The Banking Industry has provided revolutionary services in the last decade treading simultaneously on the risky grounds of continuous cyber threats. The digital world has stretched its arms to the banking system too. The technological advancement has entered the Banking arena. The Internet is now an integral part of Banking industry, today it is even impossible to imagine banks without the internet. ATM's, mobile, and net banking have become the backbone of the banking industry. The Internet has made it possible, the dream of a cashless economy is within the reach.

All this has led banks to function faster and multi-task. Customer’s need have been matched up with this fast paced technological integration of internet. Every day a new addition is done to this e-banking system. However, this is the very reason that calls for a better cyber security framework. Cyber threats and hacking events are increasing day by day. Hackers are constantly devising new ways of attacking into the database. A new hub of vulnerabilities opens up with the adoption of new technology into the banking sector. There is a need for robust security and alert awareness towards the potential cyber threats in the banking industry. A regular security update should be done, as the organisations are targeted directly.

Here are some of the important steps that need to take to gear up for the next generation of cyber security in Banking Industry:

• The creation of a cyber security framework should be mandated for every bank. Banks shall develop a strategic crisis management plan beforehand so as to address the issues of detection, responses, recovery, and containment.

• The cyber security policies should be made separately from the IT policies. This helps in making the bank more resilient towards the cyber threats and address them properly. This can be done by creating an IT architecture that focuses on cyber security and spreads awareness amongst the bank’s stakeholders and management.

• The bank management should take care of educating their staff towards its cyber security policies and implementing them. They should know about the probable threats in the future and the mitigative measures to be taken for the same. This enhances accountability as far as cyber security is concerned. This also speaks for cyber-security to be included in the strategic business planning.

• Banks should adopt an information-centric approach to tackling the vulnerable environment of cyber threats. Banks should know where exactly the data related to their customers is stored and providing better protection to this important data can be an effective step in cyber security. Banks should also look towards what all is happening outside their own walls, this helps in laying out a better plan for the preventive measures against hacking.

• The information shall be categorised and classified accordingly. Employing Data Loss Prevention, Server Protection, Global Threat Intelligence, Identity Access Management, and Endpoint Management came help build a strong cyber security framework.

Thus, Banking industry with an all-embracing attitude towards technology should also keep an open eye for the cyber threats that get invited along with it. Banks need to gear up for the modern cyber challenges to meet up to the customers’ expectations.