Cybersecurity in capital markets

Capital market firms require protection from cybersecurity threats, just like any other firm in today’s digitalized business ecosystem. An escalation in threats from cybersecurity offenders has given rise to renewed efforts by capital market firms towards, mitigating risks and safeguarding data. Regulations that mandate standard security measures are now in place, and capital market firms are investing in becoming compliant. Many other notable trends have surfaced that can substantially improve security by deploying emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain.

Capital market firms are also undertaking a conscious shift from security strategies that promote protection and prevention towards more comprehensive measures that also focus on detection and recovery. If a company has the best detection mechanism in place, it can flag anomalies and potential threats, thereby stalling their progress and keeping the effects of the attack minimum. A quick disaster-recovery plan is also essential for firms to be able to cope with the consequences and bounce back into operations post and attack.

There are a variety of cybersecurity threats that can lead to disastrous impacts on capital market firms. These include software vulnerabilities, identity duplication threats, distributed denial of service, phishing, and malware. Apart from these, cybercriminals are always on the look-out for innovative and sophisticated ways of breaking into protected business infrastructures. Reports suggest that security exchanges have been a regular target for cyber attacks. However, protecting the firms from debilitating attacks can be possible if specific security measures are given priority.

Companies should go beyond the traditional approach towards security and deploy a multi-disciplinary approach that takes into consideration every possible point of risk, compliance, and recovery. Security service providers offer companies opportunities to bolster security with a combination of essential tools like firewalls and anti-virus along with advanced ones like encryption and accessibility management. Platform-Based security can act comprehensively to make organizations safer.

According to a study published by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) research department and the World Federation of Exchanges office, around half of the world’s securities exchanges were the subject of cyber attacks last year.

Cyber threats in capital markets may lead to manipulation of order management systems leading to incorrect feeds, false orders/ non-submissions, and corruption of trade surveillance systems thus enabling manipulative, illegal and abusive trade practices. All this can result in triggering automated rogue trading strategies, thereby increasing the chance of flash crashes. The cybersecurity landscape for asset and wealth management firms is also fraught with an array of threats aimed at stealing or compromising clients’ investment or personal data. With the growing adoption of wealth management applications on mobile and via cloud-based services, attacks like DDOS, ransomware and phishing are gaining popularity.