Financial Services Sector Struggles With Sensitive Content Communications Risks
2023 Survey Findings Pinpoint Financial Services Risks
The financial services industry continues to be a prime target for cybercriminals seeking to exploit sensitive customer data. According to Kiteworks’ 2023 Sensitive Content Communications Privacy and Compliance Report, 95.5% of financial services organizations experienced 4 or more exploits of sensitive content communications in the past year.
A major challenge is the number of different systems used to send and share sensitive content. 69% of financial institutions use 6 or more tools for sensitive content communications, both internally and with third parties. This complexity makes it extremely difficult to maintain visibility and control over sensitive data flows. There are simply too many fragmented systems and touchpoints.
Surprisingly, web forms and email tied as the communication channels perceived to carry the highest risk. 41% of financial firms ranked these as either their #1 or #2 risk. Email poses particular challenges due to recipients being unable to decrypt messages encrypted in formats not supported by their organization. This leaves sensitive data exposed.
New DRM Approach Needed
Robust digital rights management is lacking across the board, exacerbating risks. Only 35% of respondents have controls in place for tracking and controlling sensitive content sharing both on-premises and in the cloud. Weak identity and access management further compound the problem.
The report highlights the urgent need for financial services firms to take a new approach to securing sensitive content communications. Unifying fragmented systems into a single, integrated platform can provide centralized governance, compliance, and risk management. Adopting a zero-trust model with content-defined controls is also recommended as a best practice.?
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Sensitive Content Communications Gaps in Financial Services
Looking deeper, it’s clear financial services organizations face weaknesses in a few key areas:
As nation-state actors and cybercriminals increasingly target the financial sector, improving sensitive content security needs to become a top priority. The lack of visibility and control over data flows creates substantial vulnerabilities.
Kiteworks Zero-trust Policy Management for Financial Services
The privacy and compliance of sensitive content communications are paramount in the financial services sector. Kiteworks understands these challenges and offers a robust solution.
The Kiteworks-enabled Private Content Network (PCN) is designed to prevent data breaches and compliance violations from third-party digital communications. With Kiteworks, you gain complete visibility, compliance, and control over IP, personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), and other sensitive content across all third-party communication channels, including email, file sharing , managed file transfer , SFTP , and web forms .
Kiteworks offers unified compliance, ensuring and demonstrating regulatory compliance over how sensitive information is exchanged across your enterprise. Kiteworks zero-trust policy management enables organizations to keep their most prized digital assets secure and aligned with industry compliance regulations. For financial firms needing to demonstrate regulatory compliance, Kiteworks’ detailed audit logging is key.
Now Is the Time to Act
Financial services firms that act now to implement better data loss prevention and content controls will gain a competitive advantage. Those that don’t are putting sensitive customer data, intellectual property, and their own reputations at serious risk.
Strengthening sensitive content protections should be part of every financial institution's cybersecurity strategy in 2023. By unifying systems, enhancing encryption, and adopting a zero-trust approach, financial firms can reduce business risk and build trust. Given today’s threat landscape, there is no time to waste in better securing sensitive communications.
Thought Leader, Author, Visionary, Pioneer, Serial Entrepreneur, CTO, Former CISO, Pioneer vCISO, Cyber Security Strategist
1 年This article does a great job of explaining HOW encrypted emails may not be the best tool to share sensitive information. Although it provides a level of safety the client needs, some organizations are unable to support the format the emails are shared in. This leads to organizations scrambling to find a way to share sensitive information. This article highlights the need for financial services organizations to find a better solution and offers an outlook on the importance of finding ways to share sensitive information, as well as some tips that point a step in the right direction.