Cybersecurity in Financial Sector: 8 Important Facts and Statistics

Cybersecurity threats are ever-evolving and becoming highly frequent in the modern digital world. All businesses, irrespective of their size and the nature of the industry, are at a continuous threat of cyber risks.

While every industry has its own level of vulnerability to cyber threats, the banking and financial services sector remains a soft target for cyber-attacks. The financial sector processes and stores extremely sensitive and valuable data such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) check routing data, and stock and investment algorithms.

Therefore, any data breach can severely impact overall financials, brand reputation, and customer loyalty.

Moreover, as financial organizations evolve by adopting new digital channels, automation, and other advanced technologies, they are navigating a landscape marked by several cyber risks.

Hence, the Banking and Financial Institutes (BFIs) must be dedicated in their endeavor to preserve the confidentiality and integrity of data for utmost clientele satisfaction.

Here, we present some statistics and facts that speak about the state of cybersecurity in the financial sector:

8 Proven Statistics of Cybersecurity in the Financial Sector

8 Proven Statistics of Cybersecurity in the Financial Sector

1) 70% Community Banks Report Security as Top Concern

According to the 6th Annual Bank Survey by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, over 70% of the surveyed 571 community banks in 30 US states ranked cybersecurity as their top concern.

2) Financial Firms are 300X More Vulnerable to Cyberthreats

According to a cybersecurity report by Boston Consulting Group, banking and financial institutes are 300 times more likely to be at risk of a cyberattack than other companies.

These threats incur a substantial financial loss to the financial firms as they have to deal with those attacks and the aftermath effects.

According to a report by IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, the financial services sector was the most attacked industry for three years in a row by 2018. It accounted for nearly 20% of the cyberattacks across all verticals in 2018.

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3) Four Methods Account for 90% Attacks

According to a cybersecurity report by Akamai, 94% of reported cyberattacks against the financial services sector were carried out by four methods. They are-

  • SQL Injection (SQLi)
  • Local File Inclusion (LFI)
  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
  • OGNL Java Injection

4) Expanding Threat Landscape

According to the Cost of Cybercrime Study in Financial Services report 2019 by Accenture, the average number of breaches in the financial sector jumped by 13% from 134 in 2017 to 152 in 2018. Overall, the average annual cost of cybercrime per company within the financial sector was USD 18.5 million.

5) Dedicated Spending on Cybersecurity

According to Deloitte’s report, financial institutes dedicate 0.3% of revenue and 10% of their IT budget to cybersecurity.

Moreover, according to IDC, financial firms are expected to spend over one-third of their budgets to Managed Security Services and Integration Services by 2023.

6) Better Equipped At Detecting Than Preventing

A survey by the Ponemon Institute revealed that financial institutes are better equipped to detect and contain security threats, data disclosures and other cyber-attacks than they are at actively preventing attacks.

Among the surveyed 400 security experts across financial services, 56% reported that their organization effectively detected cyber-attacks, whereas it is only 31% in preventing attacks.

ALSO READ | 97% IT Leaders Consider ‘Insider Threats’ as a Major Concern

7) Overwhelming Cybersecurity Alerts

Market research firm Ovum revealed in a recent survey that 40% of banks receive around 160,000 irrelevant, incorrect, or duplicate cybersecurity alerts daily.

Moreover, the security experts at Mastercard reported that they witness around 460,000 intrusion attempts on an average daily. They revealed that they had tracked 267,322 intrusions within 24 hours.

8) Failure to Follow Security Protocols is Leading Cause

According to a recent survey by Clearswift, 70% of the financial institutes have experienced a security incident in the last 12 months. It was found that employees’ failure to follow the security protocols and procedures is the leading cause of most incidents.

Around 32% of the attacks were caused by using BYOD, whereas 25% by file and image downloads, and 24% by unintentional data sharing by employees.

These cybersecurity statistics summarize the severity of cyber threats in the financial service sector. So, it’s high time to have a strategic approach to cybersecurity.

StealtLabs is Here to Help!

StealthLabs is a US-based IT Security Services and Solutions Provider, helping financial businesses to adopt security strategies against advanced threats and targeted attacks. Our IT security experts help you address concerns related to insecure data storage, identity and access control, data and threat management, incident response, and more.

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