The current geopolitical storm carries unanticipated risks in the finance and cybersecurity world, along with the standard cyber threats for business. And we all need to be prepared.
According to the head of Global Cybersecurity at J.P. Morgan, 2022 has been the noisiest year yet. We are seeing exponential growth in volumes and numbers of attacks, which is not trending down. The news has been flooded with reports of data breaches and attacks brought on by inadequate, ambiguous, or even nonexistent information and data security management systems. The outcome? For the harmed organization and, in certain cases, their suppliers, heavy fines from regulatory agencies, significant financial losses, and reputational harm.
Let’s now dive into the cybersecurity background and context to grasp a little more about what companies are facing:
Cybersecurity Background
Experts warn that the stakes are higher than ever as the cybercrime epidemic runs the risk of undermining public confidence in such treasured concepts as democracy, capitalism, and individual privacy. Furthermore, the sector continues to have a serious shortage of cybersecurity talent. The Great Resignation came with difficulties in finding the right tech talent, especially in cybersecurity analytics. Despite the fact that there are now an estimated 4.7 million cybersecurity specialists working in the industry, there is still a 3.4 million-person global labor deficit.
In addition to the growing talent gap, there’s another dynamic at play in cybersecurity: According to a Deloitte study, rapid IT change and increasing complexity have been cited by respondents as the top cybersecurity challenges over the past three years. Companies need to think about digitally enabling the cyber function within the larger IT service development process to efficiently reduce growing cyber risks.
On the other hand, there has never been a better chance for weak security due to the Covid-19 pandemic-related shift to a culture of remote work. Moreover, one of the most significant stakeholders in the financial services sector is the customer. A financial institution’s reputation is damaged by cybercrime, which also costs it money and undermines consumer confidence. Because of this, cybersecurity is everyone’s top priority in 2023. Consequently, the following are some of the key themes to monitor in 2023:
Top 5 Finance Cybersecurity Trends for 2023
Many global government measures are going into effect in 2023 with the aim of enhancing security surrounding connected devices, as well as the cloud systems and networks that link them all together. Including:
1. Ransomecloud Attacks
The ransomware attacks are not going away any time soon. By 2031, ransomware is expected to cost $265 billion yearly, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. The number of ransomware strains has also rapidly increased over the previous few years; there are currently 130 of them.
Additionally, ransomware is now present in cloud environments. Ransom-cloud attackers frequently use malware or phishing emails as their attack vectors. Additionally, they use techniques like file sync piggybacking to target cloud-based mail servers like Office 365.
2. Zero Trust Security
Zero trust is a way of thinking rather than a tool or technology. Never trust, always verify is zero trust’s guiding principle. Zero trust’s identity-centric business and architectural security solutions are protecting businesses from cyber-attacks. Indeed, the fundamental activities of a zero trust network include threat protection, identity and access management, protecting network endpoints, micro-segmenting the network, and performing threat management to guard against security threats and attacks.
Furthermore, zero trust security enables corporate users to securely communicate with any application from any device in any environment. This is an efficient approach to lower data loss and prevent data breaches.
3. Implementation of SOAR capabilities 
Solutions for security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) make it possible for businesses to gather inputs that are watched over by the security operations team. In order to aid the investigation process, SOAR capabilities automatically collect indicators of compromises (IoCs) from external threat intelligence systems, carry out sophisticated threat analyses, and award reputation scores based on severity. By giving the analyst more information about the threat, it aids in making informed decisions.
Additionally, SOAR helps to obtain a more complete picture of the security environment both inside and outside the network by collecting information from external emerging threat intelligence feeds, endpoint security software, and other third-party sources. In particular SOAR technology implementation greatly improves your security posture in the increasingly unstable cybersecurity world.
4. IoT Threats
Threats to the Internet of Things (IoT) arise when intruders search for device vulnerabilities and attempt to connect using unauthorized ports. The MITRE ATT&CK framework states that while using the non-standard port approach, the attacker may either attempt to connect using uncommon ports or tamper with the protocol to evade using standard ports. Compared to an IoT network, which has a larger attack surface and more vulnerabilities, a basic network structure limits the attack surface to the common entry points to enterprise systems.
5. Cyberattacks targeting Operational Technology (OT)
Operational technology (OT) refers to the hardware and software tools used to track and identify changes in industrial machinery, systems, and procedures. One of the key elements of OT, industrial control systems (ICS), are the new focus of cybercriminals. Here, actual physical damage as opposed to data security is the key cause for concern. As a whole, organizations need to have systems in place to detect these abnormalities and take fast action to lessen their impact.
The cybersecurity landscape today is constantly changing for both individuals and businesses as cybercriminals continue to explore for ways to compromise digital infrastructures in financial systems. As many firms continue to go through the digital transformation process, they must be nimble and constantly ready for potential attacks on their expanding business models, whether they target cloud services or cyber supply chains.
Now it’s the time to double down on cybersecurity in finance, and for that, you need the right talent. We can help! Contact us to find out what roles we could fill for your company.
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