Security News

In 2020, the most common incidents that financial organizations suffered regarding data in the cloud were phishing attacks, targeted attacks on cloud infrastructure and ransomware, Netwrix reveals. The report also revealed that 59% of financial orgs consider understaffed IT and security teams to be the major reason they struggle to secure data in the cloud.

DefenseStorm announced the addition of CyberFraud to its product offerings, providing an integrated solution for Information Security and BSA/AML Fraud departments in a single platform to prevent losses and protect account holders. The DefenseStorm GRID provides investigation tools for deep analysis, links threats across multiple accounts and sources, gathers evidence for SAR reporting, enables on-the-fly strategy configuration and streamlines dashboard reporting.

Organizations in the financial and insurance sectors were the most targeted by threat actors in 2020, continuing a trend that was first observed roughly five years ago, IBM Security reports. Retail and professional services rounded up the top five most targeted sectors, IBM says.

Alongside shifts in what types of financial institutions were being targeted, Kaspersky also noticed regional malware actors going global and advanced persistent threats that aren't normally involved in financial crimes broadening their horizons to include such acts in 2020. In terms of specific numbers, Kaspersky noticed a slight decline in the number of users hit by phishing attacks in 2020, with only 13.21% being targeted, compared to 15.7% in 2019.

While 2020 was one of the most challenging years for every business, those in financial services and insurance have fared better than most. While 74% of organizations across all sectors have now introduced DevOps, for example, this rises to 81% in financial services and 84% in insurance.

Cybersecurity vulnerabilities among credit unions and their vendors create the potential for large financial impacts to the credit union industry, according to a Black Kite report. The research analyzed the cybersecurity posture of 250 NCUA credit unions and 150 vendors commonly used by credit unions.

A new phishing scam is on the rise, targeting executives in the insurance and financial services industries to harvest their Microsoft 365 credentials and launch business email compromise attacks, according to a new report from Area 1 Security. These new, sophisticated attacks are aimed at C-suite executives, their assistants and financial departments, and can work around email security and Office 365 defenses.

A sophisticated and highly targeted Microsoft Office 365 phishing campaign is being aimed at C-suite executives, executive assistants and financial departments across numerous industries. The threat actors are leveraging phishing kits and a number of sophisticated methods at every step of the attack.

In its 10th annual Risk Barometer, Allianz found that cyber incidents ranked third in a list of the most important global business risks for the upcoming year, coming in second behind risks stemming from the pandemic itself. A recent survey of 100 senior security professionals found that 70% of respondents have received pressure to produce cyber risk quantification for their business.

70% of financial services organizations are taking a strategic approach to identity verification to combat financial crime and stay one step ahead of fraudsters according to Trulioo. "The increase in fraudulent activity as a result of the pandemic isn't the sole driver for the change in how financial services companies approach identity verification, but it's a situation that has endorsed a 'front-foot' approach", said Zac Cohen, COO, Trulioo.