Insight into Cybersecurity and Compliance Regulations for Financial Institutions in Nashville
Technology is a necessity in today’s business world. As much as that is the case, the increase in online hackers’ attempts to steal confidential data is a cause for concern. It is also quite unfortunate to discover that financial establishments are on the receiving end in this case. Financial motivation is the driving force behind most data breaches, and that is why financial entities are the main target for hackers.
As of the year 2020, the annual cost of cyberattacks within the banking sector per company stands at $18.3 million. Reputation damage is the other negative effect of a cybersecurity breach. That suggests that attracting new clients will be a challenge if a cybersecurity breach affects your financial institution’s reputation.
In that case, maintaining the highest level of security in the financial industry is not an option. By doing so, your organization will earn both new and existing customers’ trust, and it will also ensure that their data remains safe. The bottom line here is that financial institutions face an elevated level of threats, which suggests that investment in comprehensive cybersecurity and compliance services is critical.
Financial Sector Regulatory Compliance Challenges
Most financial establishments face the challenge of protecting vast amounts of sensitive client data. These setbacks include;
a) Third-Party Vendors
Reliance on third-party vendors within the digital business environments is part of the characteristics of financial firms. Working with vendors can streamline your operations, but it can also expose your company to significant compliance risks. That is the case where adequate cybersecurity programs are nonexistent. As a result, that increases customer data vulnerability to breaches and leads to non-compliance with regulations.
b) Increased Use of Endpoint Device
The number of endpoint devices on a network surges when companies opt to use smartphones and tablets to run their business activities. In that case, guarding against threats is a problem since cybercriminals gain more entry points into a network when endpoint device usage increases. Also, tracking data across endpoint devices without the right solution is a daunting task.
c) Cloud Adoption
The other compliance challenge that financial entities face is the implementation of cloud solutions. The reason, in part, is the widespread lack of insight into the shared responsibility model. Assuming that your services vendor bears the responsibility of ensuring compliance once your data is in the cloud is a misconception.
Also, multi-cloud network environments compound the problem even further since they make it difficult to track where you store and access data.
What Are The Cybersecurity Laws and Regulations Affecting Financial Institutions?
Below are the regulations that financial entities need to be fully compliant with to protect clients’ data.
SOX
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, commonly known as SOX, has requirements for secure storage and management of corporate-facing electronic financial records. That includes the auditing, monitoring, and logging of particular activities.
GLBA
Also known as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) places a demand on all financial organizations to outline their measures to protect customers’ private data. The implication is that such companies should explain to their clients how they intend to use the information they avail.
Additionally, the act requires financial institutions to provide the right to opt-out of having their data shared with third-party firms.
PCI DSS
All businesses accepting or processing any form of payment card information should securely protect that data according to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). As such, most entities need to acquire PCI DSS compliance.
FFIEC
Implementing consistent and uniform guidelines for practices and procedures across the entire financial sector is the responsibility of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). The focus of these guidelines is on regulating information security, online banking, risk assessments, among other things.
According to the details herein, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reaffirms the importance of response and resilience concerning the need to configure systems and services, business continuity, and the role of authentication. The intention, in this case, is prevention and mitigation of the severity of an attack.
Cybersecurity and Compliance Services That Experts Provide Nashville Financial Firms
One of the challenges that financial organizations should address is working with technology assets that often experience outright failure or disruptions. The reason is that most of these firms rely on IT to accomplish their daily workload. So, the always-on IT functionality standard is now a necessity. On the other hand, navigating the Nashville IT support landscape is quite a task and can lead to frustration and confusion.
The best part is that you can realize your ideal IT working environment by streamlining workflow processes when you engage Kraft Technology Group, a firm that offers a holistic set of managed IT services. Here are some of the cybersecurity and compliance services we provide institutions in the financial sector within the Nashville area.
- Supplemental assistance for in-house IT staff or fully outsourced IT services.
- Frequent technology maintenance backed by proactive protocols.
- Continuous monitoring, management, and maintenance of IT systems and networks.
- Strategic executive-level IT consulting.
- Installation of all upgrades and updates to ensure that you remain current and safe from threats.
- Remote IT support services that focus on promoting continuous workflow.
We also use the following approaches to secure your data, networks, and systems.
- Round the clock security monitoring.
- Endpoint management.
- Deploying industry-specific or custom-designed security policies and procedures.
- Prioritizing email security.
- Conducting regular security assessments.
- Encrypting data.
- Offering business-class antivirus.
- Configuring and managing firewalls.
The services above will help you leverage the benefits of reduced technology disruptions and consistent uptime. Eventually, that will increase efficiency within your business operations.
Conclusion
Running a financial organization requires you to protect your firm’s reputation among clients, comes with a high risk of persistent threats, and has several compliance areas you need to adhere to. Therefore, taking the necessary measures to achieve all that is paramount.
Hiring a managed services provider allows your financial organization to benefit from support across a range of cybersecurity services. The design of these services seeks to ensure that you are always compliant with necessary regulations while protecting your business at the same time.
A managed services provider can also provide system monitoring services around the clock through a Security Operation Center (SOC), which centralizes threat monitoring and compliance management. That, in turn, will protect your digital infrastructure and also identify and patch vulnerabilities as soon as possible. Consequently, you can save your entity time and money and mitigate risk while reducing overall downtime through this proactive approach.
Since financial companies store highly sensitive data, comprehensive cybersecurity investment to counter a data breach’s effects should be a priority. Also, maintaining customer loyalty and protecting your data is possible when you engage an IT professional. The reason is that such an expert will help you establish compliance, and they will also secure your business systems.
If you need more information on cybersecurity and compliance for financial organizations, contact us today!
