CYBERSECURITY FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES

The Need For Cybersecurity In Financial Services

Financial firms are a constant and prominent hacking target for a range of cybercriminals from organised criminal gangs through to employees. The potential for immediate financial gain from transferring money, making purchases, or selling the information on the black market means cybercrime equals big money and it is an ever-increasing problem that will not go away. These threat actors are looking to exploit and undermine the financial organisations through cybercrime daily, and unfortunately, some do succeed.
Some Common Types of Cyber Attack on Financial Service Organisations are:

1. Spear Phishing Campaigns

Nettitude’s consultants have experience of dealing with all kinds of cyber hacking, including high profile data breaches deriving from spear phishing campaigns

2. DDoS Attacks

Through to DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks where the perpetrators can suspend a service(s) sometimes affecting millions of customers at one time

3. ZERO-DAY Exploitation

Alternatively, hackers can choose to exploit the organisation’s network through software flaws known as Zero-day attacks
The threat actors are using a wide range of techniques to get into the networks of world-class financial firms and not only is their customer data exposed but their reputations are being damaged and, in some cases, destroyed forever.
The financial services sector has historically had a higher level of cyber maturity compared to many other industry segments. The industry experiences a relatively high level of regulation, and consequently this has seen many different tools and frameworks being developed to try to support the industry defend and respond to evolving cyber threats.
Nettitude has a strong alignment to the financial services sector and have a dedicated team of professionals that are solely focused on delivering services for this segment. Through focused research initiatives, we deliver tailored services that focus on:

• Core banking platforms
• ATM networks
• Cryptocurrency and Blockchain
• Payment networks and payment applications software and services

In our labs, we reverse engineer hardware and software systems to identify zero-day vulnerabilities that are specifically aligned to the financial services sector. These are frequently leveraged by our technical assurance teams when we deliver sophisticated red teaming and attack simulation services.
Nettitude delivers some of the most sophisticated red teaming and attack simulation services to its clients globally. Our services extend much further than just focusing on identifying defensive vulnerabilities. Through extensive experience in delivering services to the financial services sector, we can also provide robust guidance on how to detect and respond to financial services-oriented threat actors.

Financial Services Cybersecurity Accreditations

Nettitude delivers services that align with the following financial services initiatives

• iCAST – We deliver services that align with the HKMA intelligence-led red teaming framework. We have a local presence in the region and can support organisations undertaking C-RAF and iCAST assessment. We frequently deliver services that are required to align with iCAST, TIBER and CBEST in unison.
• AASE – Within the Singaporean market, the ABS has issued a framework called AASE, (Adversarial Attack Simulation Exercise). This leverages threat intelligence and red teaming activity to deliver services that are focused on the financial services segment. Although AASE is a framework as opposed to regulation, we are able to provide full spectrum services that align with these requirements.
• TIBER – We are fully immersed in TIBER (Threat Intelligence Based Ethical Red Teaming) framework, and can provide all elements of the Threat Intelligence and Red Teaming requirements. Our consultants deliver services across the EU, and we have language skills in most EU countries.
• CBEST – We work closely with the UK financial services regulators to deliver intelligence-led red teaming for financial services organisations. As one of the first organisations to have been accredited by both the Bank of England and CREST for CBEST Threat Intelligence and Red Teaming services, we have some of the strongest experience and testimonials available for UK financial services organisations.

For larger financial services organisations that operate in multiple territories, it is increasingly challenging to navigate all of the different regulations. Nettitude has extensive experience in supporting senior stakeholders to navigate these cybersecurity frameworks. Our research team launched a review and analysis that compared some of these frameworks in 2019. This can be downloaded here.

Why Partner With Cybersecurity Firm Nettitude?

Mitigate cyber risk

Nettitude helps its clients to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals, giving a first-line cyber defence and response to all types of incident, and resilience to stand up to cyber-attacks. It also encourages intelligence sharing amongst the finance industry, and sophisticated testing to mitigate an organisations risk of a breach or an attack at every level.

Nettitude’s cyber credentials

As a trusted member of CREST and one of the world’s first accredited CBEST testing and intelligence partners for the Bank of England, you can be sure that you are in the most capable hands.

Research & development

Through its research and development (R&D) as well as active client work, Nettitude’s dedicated R&D team analyses and studies threat actor behaviour, gaining greater insight into the specific threat landscape within the financial sector. It regularly shares its latest findings in PERCEPTION, Nettitude’s quarterly report of cyber activity within the financial industry across the world. Its’ researchers also release financial whitepapers on the effects of cyber relating to the finance industry through topics such as Bitcoin and SWIFT. You can also access Nettitude’s latest Zero-day discoveries through Nettitude Labs and subscribe to receive Nettitude’s most recent findings as they are publicly released.