62% of Financial Services Firms in the UK have Suffered a Cyber-attack in the Last 12 Months

Financial Services (FS) is a sector facing unprecedented cybersecurity challenges. 62% of FS firms in the UK have suffered a cyber security attack in the last 12 months, while 40% have noticed more cybersecurity incidents since the increase in home working.

Our recent survey of 250 FS CISOs and CIOs reveals a difficult situation for FS firms. They need to keep the business secure in the face of increasing cyber-attacks, but they also need to have an eye on the future. It’s a balancing act that would be tough at the best of times, but now has to take place against the backdrop of a global pandemic. One of the seemingly tangential effects of Covid-19 has been the impact on cybersecurity. 

More than half of UK FS firms have already increased investment in secure collaboration tools and 56% say that securing the remote workforce has become a main cybersecurity objective. More than one-third say that Covid-19 has accelerated changes that were already in discussion, such as a move to Office 365, and it’s clear that managing a distributed workforce is going to be a major consideration for FS firms in the immediate and longer-term future.

When asked what had the potential to cause the most damage in their organization, UK CISOs cited cybersecurity weakness in the supply chain (60%), the insider threat – malicious or accidental (46%) and hackers gaining access to core systems (42%). Cybersecurity weakness in the supply chain was the main global challenge identified by our respondents. There are countless examples of cyber-attacks where this weakness was exploited, highlighting just how hard it can be to keep an organization secure in our interconnected world.

There is no magic wand for FS firms as they look to maintain security measures in the here and now, while also addressing longer term digital transformation goals. The latter was mentioned as the number one challenge for FS both now and in three years’ time.

According to CISOs, data visibility is the biggest cybersecurity weakness in FS organizations today. Therefore, it is vital that FS firms understand what data they have, where it resides and how it travels. Having the right technology and processes in place keeps data secure and makes it easier to meet regulatory challenges. Firms must also continue to educate employees, so they are aware of how to handle data in accordance with compliance regulations and how to spot potential cyber threats.

Here at Fortra we work with customers to help keep their data safe, secure, and compliant. Our data security solutions facilitate the proper handling of sensitive or valuable data, allowing our customers to achieve and maintain compliance through the management and control of data at rest, in use and in motion.