You must have read about the recent outbreak of WannaCry ransom ware that has affected thousands of individuals and companies worldwide. The malicious program was designed to block access to data and you need to pay a ransom to unlock it, their major target being the financial sector.
This is just one example of the threats that you are exposed to every single day. Which brings us to today’s discussion. How big a part your Cyber security habits play in preventing such kind of attacks?
The answer is obvious.
When you consider the fact that there has been a 937% increase in records stolen from the financial sector in 2016, you definitely need to step up your Cyber security game.
Why do hackers choose finance?
The primary aim of the hackers is to steal information and personal data which can be manipulated directly or indirectly to make money. And since, the financial sector has money written all over it, it is an obvious choice for the hackers.
Banks are the target most of the times, mobile banking apps to be specific. A malicious program introduced on your mobile device can capture and transmit your secure login credentials or your credit card information to the hackers easily, if you are not careful. Most common technique used to do this is by phishing emails.
If not emails, the mobile banking apps can be infected with a malicious program that can capture your personal information and transmit it to the hackers. The worst part is, you will completely be unaware of what hit you until it’s too late.
Stealing identities and committing fraud is what most hackers are in it for.
How to prevent these attacks?
Train employees
This is one of the very basic but effective ways to prevent cyber attacks. Most of the times it is the ignorance of employees that results in them opening a malicious email attachment or accessing questionable websites. A mandatory cyber security training for the new employees as well as a periodic refresher for the existing one’s should be incorporated in the company’s policy.
Minimize insider threats
Believe it or not, insider threats account of 58% of the attacks than outside one’s which account for 42%. Best way to minimize insider threats is by restricting employee access to resources by using access controls. This ensures that individuals can only access the resources that they are supposed to.
Leverage AI and Machine Learning
AI and machine learning techniques can be used to identify and block malicious emails, suspicious website URL’s as well as infected files.
Adopting an integrated security platform like Quixxi
Quixxi is an integrated and intelligent platform that can do much more than security. Quixxi’s mobile app vulnerability report uses AI and machine learning to give you an insight about your mobile app and helps in determining the areas that can be exploited.
If you are a financial company, it is very important to make sure that your mobile app is 100% hack proof. Quixxi’s mobile app penetration test combines manual methods, artificial intelligence and machine learning to simulate attackers trying to gain access to infrastructure, system features and data.
Quixxi also offers a Security Wrapper which is a multilayered binary protection engine. It uses military grade cryptography standards and security algorithms to prevent reverse engineering, decompilation, malware and tampering.
To learn more about our security features and solutions, check out this page. Do you have any thought to add to this? Do let us know in the comment section below.
