5 OF THE TOP CLOUD BANKING SECURITY RISKS YOUR ORGANIZATION SHOULD BE AWARE OF

1. Malware

Moving large amounts of sensitive data to a cloud environment that is connected to the internet exposes organizations to additional cyber threats. Malware attacks are a common threat to cloud security, with studies indicating that nearly 90% of organizations are more likely to suffer data breaches as cloud usage increases.

Banks must be aware of the changing threat landscape as cybercriminals improve their attack delivery methods.

2. Data corruption

Banks are increasingly concerned about data leakage. As previously stated, cloud computing requires organizations to hand over some control to a CSP. This could imply that someone other than your IT department is in charge of the security of some of your organization’s critical data.

If there is a breach or attack at the cloud service provider, your company will not only lose its data and intellectual property but it will also be held liable for any resulting damages.

3. Compliance

As data privacy becomes more of a concern, compliance regulations and industry standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS become more stringent.

One key to ensuring ongoing compliance is to monitor who has access to data and what they can do with that access. Because cloud systems typically allow for large-scale user access, monitoring access across the network can be difficult if proper security measures aren’t in place.

4. Insufficient due diligence

Cloud migration is not something to be taken lightly. Working with a cloud service provider, like working with a third-party vendor, necessitates extensive due diligence to ensure that your organization has a complete understanding of the scope of work required to migrate to the cloud successfully and efficiently.

In many cases, banks are unaware of how much work is involved in a transition, and the cloud service provider’s security measures are frequently overlooked.

5. Visibility into network operations is limited

Banks lose visibility into network operations when they move workloads and assets to the cloud. This is because the cloud service provider is managing some of the systems and policies.

Depending on the service model used, the scope of the responsibility shift may vary. Banks must therefore be able to monitor their network infrastructure without relying on network-based monitoring and logging.

HOW CAN BANKS REDUCE CLOUD SECURITY RISKS?

1. Risk evaluations

Conducting cybersecurity risk assessments is one method of analyzing your bank’s cybersecurity posture and the effectiveness of the security controls in place. An assessment’s goal is to identify any potential vulnerabilities or security gaps so that your IT team can make informed decisions about how to improve security in the future.

2. Constant monitoring

The most important component of a successful cybersecurity risk management program is arguably continuous monitoring. Continuous monitoring will become even more important as banks increasingly migrate to cloud computing models to ensure ongoing cyber hygiene.

The digital landscape is rapidly changing, and relying on point-in-time assessments to determine security posture will leave organizations too late to act if a problem arises.

3. Controls for user access

Because cloud environments are typically easier to access than on-premises environments, implementing user access controls is an important part of ensuring successful cloud security.

Banks should think about zero-trust security, which assumes that no one should be trusted with open network access. Instead, users are only given access to the critical functions required for each role.

4. Automation

The threat landscape is constantly evolving, and cyber attackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. As a result, many IT departments are overwhelmed by the large number of security alerts that arrive at a rapid pace.

By automating key initiatives like cybersecurity monitoring, threat intelligence collection, and vendor risk assessments, teams can focus their efforts on higher-priority tasks rather than manually reviewing all potential threats to the network.

IN CONCLUSION

Understanding the risks of cloud banking security, as well as solutions to prevent them, will enable banks to better manage and apply cloud technology to storage. This enables banks to confidently manage their cloud security efforts and make data-driven decisions about how to improve security controls.

Don’t forget to contact SmartOSC Fintech for more information on other technology issues!