5 Cybersecurity Solutions for Financial Institutions

Managed security services including SIEM and ATP can help protect your financial institution's most sensitive data from cyber crime.

Articles published October 23, 2017 by Ben Killion

Cyberattacks are no joke. They can not only cost your organization money, but can also expose sensitive data and negatively impact your reputation. As a financial institution, your customers want to be sure their information and financial records are protected in your care.

Gone are the days of relying solely on security audits and environment tests. Cybersecurity solutions are vital to keeping your bank and customers protected 24/7. Having a layered, defensive security approach is an effective way to do this. Cyber protection should include strategies focused on technology, people, and processes throughout your organization.

Here are five cybersecurity solutions that could benefit your organization.

Gain Network Insight with SIEM

Some data security technologies enable you to analyze and investigate network traffic and find areas of vulnerability. This will provide perspective on your network and better identify any issues or risk areas sooner rather than later.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) is an effective strategy and technology application that delivers a centralized view of all network data. This data enables you to identify threats and track them throughout your network. SIEM consolidates all logs and provides a clear picture of what’s happening in your network.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication

It’s more important than ever to have the proper security in place and have adequate control of your environment. For passwords, a single sign-on is no longer enough. Multi-factor authentication is recommended for accessing networks securely. In addition, it’s beneficial to have active monitoring of access points, devices, and traffic.

Protect Data with Encryption

Your data is extremely important, so it should be extremely secure. Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions monitor and protect sensitive data on your network and block it from leaving the network unauthorized.

To ensure maximum protection, it’s best practice to encrypt your data while in transit and at rest. Encryption renders information unreadable when accessed without proper authorization. It’s imperative to have a process in place for encrypting sensitive devices, and ensuring files and emails are being sent properly.

A data security policy should also be put in place. This clearly outlines approved methods of securely transferring or sharing data and defines restricted methods to help stop the use of unsupported or unsafe services and applications. Data security policies should be very specific, well documented, communicated thoroughly, enforced, and periodically reviewed and updated. Read more about what makes a strong data security policy.

Employee Cybersecurity Training

Effective cybersecurity solutions extend beyond policies. Educate your employees on how to identify and deal with cybersecurity threats. Make security awareness training mandatory and ongoing. Provide concrete examples of actual threats, and set up a false attack to identify employee behaviors. With a solid understanding of the different kinds of cyber and social engineering attacks, employees will be better equipped to thwart them and your organization’s risk of a cyberattack will substantially decrease.

Advanced Threat Protection

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is a combination of multiple security solutions designed to provide comprehensive protection and prevent hackers from stealing private and sensitive data. There are some differences in ATP solutions, but the most common solutions include:

Network devices
Email gateways
Centralized management platform
Malware protection
Endpoint agents

ATP solutions help you prevent, detect, and mitigate any threats that could potentially compromise your institution’s data. As cyberattacks continue to increase, cybersecurity and solutions like ATP are becoming even more essential for financial institutions wanting to bolster security efforts and minimize risk.

Stay Secure with Managed IT Services

Ultimately, cybersecurity solutions give your organization protection against attacks and threats. Even though there is no way to stop every single threat, implementing solutions to help you stay on top of the ever-changing threats of today and tomorrow is a necessity. Partnering with a reliable managed IT service provider can help ensure your organization is taking the right steps to prevent cyber attacks.