Insider threats putting many financial services at risk

The majority of financial services are at risk of insider cyber threats because their mainframe environments have blind spots, according to Compuware.

The company's latest research claims that organizations such as banks keep the majority of the sensitive customer data on the mainframe, as they consider it the securest in the entire enterprise. However, they are not monitoring it close enough to truly understand what those with privileged access are doing with that data.

Polling 400 CIOs, 66 of which were from the financial sector, the report says more than three quarters (78 percent) of CIOs admitted to knowing of a "blind spot" in the mainframe. That blind spot refers to what mainframe is being accessed and how it is being used.

More than eight in ten -- 84 percent -- of CIOs said it is hard to track who has accessed stored data.

Almost two thirds (59 percent) of CIOs in financial services institutions use the mainframe as the core repository of their most sensitive data, and lastly -- just two percent monitor user and database activity.

"The mainframe has always been the most securable platform in the enterprise; which is why organizations continue to entrust their most sensitive data to it," says John Crossno, product manager, Compuware.

"However, businesses still face the risk that privileged employees, or those who have acquired access illegally, will misuse mainframe data. Organizations must take steps to gain more visibility over who is accessing data and how they are using it."

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