Maintaining vigilance and continually investing in cyber defense is of paramount importance for the financial industry in the cyber age, experts said at the Cybertech Global Conference. Companies in the sector have a lot of catching up to do despite their strategic decisions to go digital, they added.
In a special session at the Cybertech Global 2020 conference, experts from the financial sector discussed the transformation of challenges, solutions and methodologies in the cyber age. The FinTech event was held Thursday (January 30) on the final day of the conference in Tel Aviv.
In a panel on staying ahead in the financial sector, speakers said that it is necessary to maintain vigilance, continually invest in cyber defenses and methodology, foster communication within companies, protect customers, and thus fend off attackers. Companies need to work together because hackers are working together, they said. There is a need for more experts in each domain of the cyber sector due to a shortage of talent. Israel is playing a role in the search for innovative solutions to financial sector challenges due to its unique cyber ecosystem, the speakers said.
It is crucial to update software and vulnerability scanning, monitor app logs for abnormal behavior, restrict registry and file permission, back up data, and monitor creation of suspicious files. Hackers are constantly on the lookout for vulnerabilities, the panelists said, such as in ISP addresses, cellular phones, websites and mail, according to the panelists.
Mobile payment processes are assuming a larger role in the operations of financial institutions, but this has made them a much more attractive target for cyber criminals. Attackers use such methods as phishing with encrypted files to break into unsecured, unpatched systems. However, panelists said convenience can still be balanced with security if users take such key steps as keeping the operating systems of their mobile devices up to date, controlling their access rights and avoiding the use of free wifi.
Thus, financial companies have a lot of catching up to do despite their strategic decisions to go digital, according to a Fintech panel on technology innovation and next generation use cases. Digital transformation was compared to changing a plane's engine in mid-flight, or in other words, something that takes a very high level of care. The shift to cloud infrastructure by itself doesn't resolve the problems financial institutions face, the panelists said.
Also, even though governments have very significant resources, they must cooperate with the private sector because governments cannot handle the entire cyber field on their own, panelists said. It is important to introduce friendly and realistic regulations for key technologies, and in this context a joint effort by the financial industry and regulators is needed, according to the panelists.
