IT and cybersecurity are gaining in importance for many industries, especially in banking and the FinTech sector. Therefore, the requirements to protect customer and company data are steadily increasing – as is the risk of falling victim to a cyber-attack. Effective security management to protect the IT infrastructure and important data is therefore essential.
Comprehensive protection is a demanding task – its costs for the financial sector are in order of several hundred million Euros every year – trend rising. The complexity of IT security continues to increase as a result of the digital transformation. It is associated with enormous operational risks. To stay a leader in business and innovation, Germany must be a pioneer in digitization. It is precisely this digitalization that has to consider the protection of IT products and corporate networks from the outset and internalize the principles of security-by-default and security-by-design.
Security-by-Default
means that IT products and devices must be delivered to customers in a secure way by default. All security settings must be preset in such a way that the user does not have to make any further adjustments.
Security-by-Design
means that (cyber) security is already a central requirement in the development model. Holistic security measures are taken into account, are implemented, and are approved from the initialization stage onward.
Current threats to the financial sector
Cyberattacks in the financial sector can be divided into three overarching categories.
Targeted attacks: Here, a financial institution is attacked directly, for example, via security vulnerabilities in the corporate network. Although this type of attack is the most dangerous for any bank on an individual level, it is also the easiest to protect and defend against.
Industry-specific attacks: Banks and FinTechs make a very significant contribution to the economic cycle. A collapse of banking processes or payment transactions would cause massive damage, not only to the financial institutions themselves, but also to industrial- and service companies, the state, and private individuals.
Widespread attacks: These have been commonplace for years, for example in the form of so-called phishing emails. If banks protect themselves against industry-specific and targeted attacks, it will result in general protection against broad-based attacks, too.
Cybersecurity is of great importance, both, nationally and internationally. In our German blog article, we focus on the perspective of the BaFin, the German legal and technical regulator of the Federal Ministry of Finance. To read the full article, click here.
Do you have any questions regarding cybersecurity for companies in the financial sector and beyond? Feel free to contact us anytime. We are more than happy to advise you and put you in touch with selected experts in IT-security.
