Financial services companies over confident about protecting data

Confidence smug millionaire

Financial services business tend to be attacked more than those in any other sector, but a new study finds that 75 percent of respondents in this industry are over confident in their data management practices.

A worrying 24 percent of respondents to Integris Software's 2019 FinServ Data Privacy Maturity Study only update their personal data inventory once a year. Even more concerning, 13 percent only inventory sensitive data when audited or in response to regulation requests.

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Majority of leaked records in 2019 came from financial services firms

hack money

According to a new report, more than 60 percent of all leaked records in 2019 were exposed by financial services organizations, despite only six percent of breaches affecting these organizations.

The 2019 Financial Breach Report from Bitglass says these figures are at least partially due to the Capital One breach, which compromised more than 100 million records.

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Google teams with Citigroup bank to offer checking accounts from 2020

Google logo on white wood

Google next big venture appears to be banking. According to reports -- including from the Wall Street Journal -- the company is partnering with Citigroup bank and will start to offer checking accounts from next year.

The project is codenamed Cache and it will also see Google teaming up with credit unions to provide banking facilities to people in the US. But with widespread concern about Google's attitude to privacy, is there a market for banking services from the company?

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Common standards make access to and control of financial data easier

cash handshake

Ever more of our financial transactions are being carried out online, but if you have accounts with more than one provider, keeping track of information can be a challenge both for businesses and individuals.

Formed in October 2018, the Financial Data Exchange (FDX) is committed to uniting the financial industry around a single, interoperable and royalty-free standard for consumers and businesses to access their financial data.

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Revolut is expanding its extraordinary multi-currency banking services to the US in partnership with Mastercard

Revolut card

Revolut is coming to the US. The innovative fintech firm has teamed up with Mastercard, and plans to bring its extraordinarily useful multi-currency card to America.

The digital banking service has already enjoyed huge success in Europe through its existing partnerships with Mastercard and Visa. Revolut's particular strength lies in the ease with which money can be converted between currencies with not only no or very low fees but also at incredible exchange rates -- all accessible through a mobile app.

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Phishing and credential stuffing remain top threats

Phishing password

As we have seen in another report today, the financial sector remains a prime target for cybercriminals. Phishing attacks and credential stuffing are the two most common forms of attack used against the industry according to another report from Akamai.

In the six months between December 2018 and May 2019, nearly 200,000 phishing domains were discovered by the research and 50 percent of all unique organizations impacted are from the financial services sector.

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European financial services industry struggling with lack of data skills

Money

Nearly 40 percent of financial services businesses are failing to implement data initiatives due to a lack of skills, with almost a third saying that their GDPR initiatives are failing, according to a new study.

The report produced by Vanson Bourne for analytics database company Exasol is based on responses from 500 IT and business decision makers, from enterprises in Germany and the UK.

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Financial sector concerned about third-party cyber risk

risk jigsaw piece

Many organizations work with hundreds of third parties, creating new risks that must be actively managed. The financial industry, in particular, has a massive business ecosystem made up of legal organizations, accounting and human resources firms, management consulting and outsourcing firms, and information technology and software providers.

A new study into the financial services sector from security ratings company BitSight finds that 97 percent of respondents say cyber risk affecting third parties is a major issue.

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Vulnerabilities leave financial mobile apps open to attack

Mobile cash

A new report reveals widespread security inadequacies and protection failures among consumer financial applications.

The research for Arxan Technologies, carried out by Aite Group, says these vulnerabilities can lead to the exposure of source code, sensitive data stored in apps, access to back-end servers via APIs, and more.

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Financial firms not keeping up with electronic communication risks

Malicious email

In a world of evolving technologies and shifting demographics within the workforce, and within firms' customer bases, organizations need to rethink their approach to the adoption and oversight of electronic communications.

But a new study from data archiving specialist Smarsh shows that financial organizations are not keeping pace with their retention and supervision efforts -- particularly with a growing, younger workforce that relies on expanding, mobile-friendly channels, such as social media and text messaging.

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Financial services breaches triple since 2016

Broken piggy bank

2018 has seen nearly three times as many breaches at financial services organizations as there were in 2016, according to a new report.

The study by cloud access security broker Bitglass finds there have been 103 breaches in this year’s report compared to just 37 two years ago.

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Attackers use hidden tunnels to steal financial data

money tunnel

Global financial services organizations are targeted by sophisticated cyber attackers in an attempt to steal critical data, according to a new report.

The study from threat hunting company Vectra says attackers build 'hidden tunnels' masquerading as other web traffic to break into networks and access critical data and personal information. These tunnels are used to remotely control an attack and steal data while remaining largely undetected.

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Sophisticated keyloggers target financial services companies

keylogger

Analysis of malware samples found among finance firms has uncovered an unusually large number of iSpy keylogger samples. iSpy is a variant of the notorious HawkEye logger.

Network-based malware protection specialist Lastline intercepted the logger's communication with the command and control server and detected the active exfiltration of website, email and FTP credentials, as well as license key information for installed products.

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Accelerating the future of financial services

Money

Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time with companies across different industries, listening and working to understand their unique needs. As their respective landscapes evolve, it’s clear that each of them is looking for technology that accelerates the execution of their most imperative objectives. With that in mind, I want to take a look at a few specific industries, examining issues they face as well as their plans for innovating for the future. First up: financial services.

From my perspective, there are three pivotal shifts underway.

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Spotify is filing for an unconventional IPO

Spotify logo render

Music streaming service Spotify is planning to go public. The company is making a "novel" move which it acknowledges is "risky": opting for a "direct listing" rather than the more usual fundraising route.

The company will allow its investors and employees to sell shares, and there will be no need to raise more capital or hire an underwriter. It is expected that Spotify will go public in late March or early April when it will appear on the New York Stock Exchange using the symbol SPOT.

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