3 Biggest Cybersecurity Threats for the Banking Industry

Here’s how threat actors execute cybersecurity attacks in the banking industry and what you can do about it.

Key Takeaways:

Organizations in the banking industry are responsible for very valuable information, making them a major target for threat actors
Ransomware, phishing, and supply chain attacks are the biggest cybersecurity threats to the banking industry
You must take a proactive approach to your cybersecurity protocols to ensure hackers can’t access your network and systems

Cyberattacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and sophisticated, and the stakes are higher than ever, with data breaches costing U.S. companies $9.44 million on average.

The stakes are even higher for the financial and banking industries, where a cybersecurity compromise can cause disruptive ripple effects on the economy. With this in mind, we’ve curated a list of the top cybersecurity threats affecting the banking industry today and how you can mitigate them.

Ransomware

Ransomware is the leading cybersecurity threat to the banking industry. According to Checkpoint, the banking and finance industries experienced about 700 ransomware attacks per week on average in 2021. This represents a 53% increase from 2020.

Firms in this industry store very sensitive and valuable client and employee data. They also have strict regulatory compliance requirements that demand exemplary resilience to data breaches and cyberattacks. Players in the banking industry stand to incur financial loss and reputational damage if they fall victim to a ransomware attack.

They may even lose professional licensing if the ransomware attack reveals vulnerabilities regulators expect them to have a handle on. These factors provide threat actors with the ultimate motive: to use ransomware when targeting the banking industry.

Threat actors know that most financial organizations will give in to ransom demands if they apply enough pressure.

Recent ransomware attacks

The traditional approach to ransomware deployment has been to prevent the target – in this case, a bank – from accessing their network, systems, or files until a hefty ransom is paid.

This technique has since evolved to include data exfiltration, where cybercriminals create a copy of your organization’s sensitive data and threaten to leak it if you don’t comply with their demands.

A good example is when the Clop ransomware gang deployed a ransomware attack against Flagstar Bank in January 2021. The perpetrators stole sensitive employee and customer information and posted some of it online to extort money from Flagstar Bank. The breached data included names, phone numbers, addresses, tax records, and Social Security numbers of the bank’s customers and employees.

In another 2021 cyberattack, Evil Corp deployed ransomware on CNA Financial Corp’s network, forcing them to pay a $40 million ransom to regain access.

Protecting your organization against ransomware

Taking a proactive approach to detect and deter ransomware from infiltrating your computer systems and network is your best bet to keep bad actors at bay.

Keep your operating systems, applications, and software updated
Ensure your antimalware and antivirus solutions automatically run regular scans and updates
Regularly back up your data
Secure your backups
Develop a continuity plan to reduce the severity of ransomware attacks on your operations

In case you fall victim to a ransomware attack, avoid paying the ransom. According to the FBI, paying the ransom doesn’t guarantee that perpetrators will keep their end of the deal. It only encourages future ransomware attacks.

In contrast, refusing to negotiate with threat actors can help you reduce damage costs. A 2020 ransomware study by Sophos revealed that choosing not to pay a ransom may reduce your remediation costs by as much as 50%.

Ransomware can undoubtedly be a dangerous and costly cyberthreat – but it’s not the only one to watch out for. An attack you’re likely more familiar with that may seem more innocuous than ransomware is phishing.

Phishing

Phishing is becoming an increasingly popular attack vector for cybercriminals, with email phishing being the most common type. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, there were over one million phishing attacks in Q1 of 2022 – a record high.

Approximately 23.6% of these attacks targeted the financial industry.

Phishing is a technique where criminals use technical subterfuge and social engineering to steal customers’ financial account credentials and personal identity information. In email phishing, fake email messages and email addresses are used to dupe unwitting victims into believing they are dealing with a legitimate and trustworthy party, leading them to click on a link or open an attachment – thus starting the phishing process.

There are two main objectives of email phishing:

Direct victims to a counterfeit website and trick them into divulging sensitive information such as usernames and passwords
Plant malware on the target computer system to steal login credentials directly

How exactly does all of this play out, and what are the methods used in incidents of phishing?

Phishing is becoming more sophisticated

Phishing has become more sophisticated with the advent of technologies such as the QR code. QR codes effectively bypass traditional email security protocols because they are not malicious entities in themselves.

Most detection technologies are optimized for virus signatures and text URLs and cannot read the link destination of QR codes. Another significant advancement is the introduction of phishing-as-a-service. PhaaS waives the technical requirements for phishing, allowing potential threat actors with little knowledge of setting up spoofing websites to launch full-scale phishing campaigns with the touch of a button.

How to defend against phishing

Some of the ways to protect your organization against phishing include:

Educating your users on cybersecurity threats to raise awareness about phishing
Adopting the use of email protection and multifactor authentication tools
Deploying anti-phishing software and tools that detect anomalies
Keeping your software updated to get rid of bugs that create vulnerabilities

This list is not exhaustive, but these are excellent steps to take to help ensure you’re protected against potential phishing attacks.

Phishing is generally internal. Outside attacks are also possible, such as through the supply chain.

Supply chain attacks

Implementing strong internal cybersecurity protocols within your organization is not enough. Threat actors can infiltrate your network and systems by compromising a third-party vendor in your supply chain.

Chances are that your vendors’ cybersecurity protocols aren’t as good as your internal protocols. This creates a major vulnerability that hackers can exploit with less effort.

The earlier example of Flagstar’s data breach demonstrates the damage that can result when a vendor is compromised. In this ransomware attack, Clop targeted Accellion (now Kiteworks), Flagstar’s third-party file-sharing vendor.

How a Zero Trust architecture can mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities

Implementing Zero Trust cybersecurity measures with secure Privileged Access Management policies is the best defense against supply chain attacks.

A Zero Trust architecture assumes that all network activity by users, whether external or internal, is a security threat until proven otherwise. This uncompromising approach makes the framework very effective in identifying and preventing supply chain attacks.

All of this goes to show how much information is out there to both target and prevent attacks against financial institutions. Unisol International is here to help parse it all for you.

Get the expert help you need

With a continuously evolving cybersecurity landscape, organizations must take a proactive approach to their cybersecurity protocols – especially those in the banking industry where the stakes are the highest.

Unisol International works with some of the most reliable cybersecurity companies in the U.S. and can help your organization avert threat actors. Contact us today for a comprehensive cybersecurity solution for your business.

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3 Biggest Cybersecurity Threats for the Banking Industry

Here’s how threat actors execute cybersecurity attacks in the banking industry and what you can do about it.

Ransomware

Phishing

Supply chain attacks

Get the expert help you need

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