For most people, the biggest benefit of having so much technology easily accessible is that practically anything can be done from the comfort of your own home. Clothes can be ordered, movies rented and good delivered all with just the click of a mouse. Perhaps one of the most convenient things about being able to take care of chores and errands over the Internet is the ability to complete banking transactions online. Customers are no longer required to race to the bank before it closes or spend their time waiting in endless lines just to cash a check.
However, online banking isn’t only convenient for customers, it’s also made it much easier for cybercriminals to steal large amounts of financial data from unsuspecting users. The influx of financial data collected through electronic payments has greatly increase the risk of cyberattacks by malicious actors and it appears that many financial institutions are unprepared to protect customer data. A recent survey of U.S. professionals commissioned by GFI Software revealed that 46 percent were victims of hacking within the last year. Another 43 percent of participants believed that banks will be the most likely target for cybercriminals and identity thieves in the next year.
Banks taking steps to increase cybersecurity, but not the right ones
A separate study conducted by the American Bankers Association revealed that, despite tens of millions of credit card numbers being stolen in just the last 12 months alone, 89 percent of consumers think their local bank is doing a good job of protecting their personal information. This trust may come in part from initiatives many banks have taken voluntarily to increase cybersecurity, such as implementing the use of electronic chips in their payment cards and utilizing neural networks that are designed to identify unauthorized activity.
While these defense techniques are a good start in protecting customers, they don’t do very much to tackle the root of the problem. To cut down on data breaches and cyber theft, banks need to focus on keeping malicious actors out of their networks in the first place. In order to do this, companies should look into deploying a security product that is able to protect networks from being overtaken by the actions of a hacker.
Employing Faronics Anti-Virus enables organizations to protect against malicious programs by employing multiple defense techniques, including firewalls, anti-rootkit, anti-spyware and Web filtering. Used as a complement to the Anti-Virus program, enterprises can also implement computer monitoring software in order to increase the strength of their cybersecurity even more. Faronics provides businesses an endpoint protection layered security approach that combines anti-virus and monitoring tools to ensure companies are sufficiently equipped to defend against cyber threats in an increasingly dangerous enterprise landscape.
