Raggiungere la sicurezza informatica nei servizi finanziari

Financial institutions face an increasingly sophisticated array of cyber threats targeting their sensitive data, financial systems, and customer information. The stakes have never been higher for banks, investment firms, and insurance companies operating in a digital-first environment.

Financial services organizations remain prime targets for cybercriminals due to the valuable data they possess and the critical nature of their operations. Cyberattacks in this sector can have far-reaching consequences beyond immediate financial losses.

The financial sector’s rapid digital transformation has created new vulnerabilities alongside innovative capabilities. Protection strategies must evolve at the same pace to safeguard assets and maintain customer trust in an interconnected financial ecosystem.

Gli istituti finanziari devono affrontare minacce informatiche specifiche e persistenti, progettate per sfruttare le loro preziose risorse di dati e le infrastrutture critiche. Gli attacchi più comuni includono:

• Phishing and social engineering: Sophisticated attempts to manipulate employees into revealing credentials or executing fraudulent transactions through deceptive emails, messages, or calls.

• Insider threats: Malicious or negligent actions by employees with legitimate access to sensitive systems and data.

• Ransomware: Targeted encryption of critical financial data with demands for payment, often threatening to expose sensitive information.

• DDoS attacks: Overwhelming financial service websites and applications per interrompere operations and customer access.

• API vulnerabilities: Exploitation of weaknesses in the interfaces connecting financial services with third-party applications.

Cloud adoption has fundamentally changed the threat landscape for financial institutions. As organizations migrano core banking systems, customer data, and transaction processing to cloud environments, they face evolving attack vectors. Complex regulatory standards further complicate matters: Financial institutions must simultaneously innovate while adhering to stringent compliance requirements that vary by jurisdiction.

La realtà ibrida e multi-cloud delle moderne istituzioni finanziarie crea notevoli sfide in materia di sicurezza. I team di sicurezza devono monitorare le minacce in ambienti eterogenei con modelli di sicurezza diversi e limitazioni di visibilità.

Questa infrastruttura frammentata complica l’applicazione coerente delle politiche, crea potenziali punti ciechi nel monitoraggio della sicurezza e richiede competenze specialistiche su più piattaforme. Le organizzazioni finanziarie faticano a mantenere un rilevamento completo delle minacce e una risposta coordinata agli incidenti in questi ambienti disparati.

The consequences of inadequate cybersecurity in financial services extend far beyond immediate data breaches or financial losses. Reputational damage can be devastante: Customers lose confidence in institutions that fail to protect their assets, leading to significant customer attrition.

Le sanzioni normative sono diventate sempre più severe, con multe che possono raggiungere milioni di dollari in caso di inadempienze normative. Le interruzioni operative causate da incidenti informatici possono bloccare le negoziazioni, impedire le transazioni o impedire ai clienti di accedere ai propri conti per lunghi periodi.

Un programma completo di sicurezza per i servizi finanziari richiede diverse componenti fondamentali:

• Zero-trust architecture: Verification of all users and devices attempting to access resources, regardless of their location.

• Strong encryption: Protection of data both in transit and at rest across all environments.

• Automated recovery capabilities: Rapid restoration of systems and data following incidents to minimize downtime.

• Threat intelligence integration: Proactive identification of emerging threats specific to financial services.

• Regular penetration testing: Identification of vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

Financial institutions face extraordinary compliance una complessità. Regulations like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in the European Union impose strict requirements for cyber resilience and third-party risk management. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) mandates specific controls for handling payment information. The Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) establishes cybersecurity requirements for critical infrastructure, including financial services. These overlapping frameworks create a complex compliance landscape requiring sophisticated management approaches.

The financial sector’s unique operational characteristics create distinctive cybersecurity challenges. Financial institutions process continuous, time-sensitive transactions that cannot tolerate disruption. A minutes-long outage can result in millions of dollars in losses and impact thousands of customers. This constant transaction flow provides attackers with persistent opportunities to identify and exploit vulnerabilities.

I comuni malintesi sulla sicurezza informatica nel settore finanziario possono portare a strategie di protezione inadeguate. Molti istituti sopravvalutano l’efficacia delle difese perimetrali nell’era del cloud computing e del lavoro da remoto.

Altre commettono l’errore di generalizzare i tipi di violazioni anziché riconoscere gli attacchi altamente mirati e sofisticati progettati specificamente per gli istituti finanziari. Alcune organizzazioni si concentrano esclusivamente sulle minacce esterne, trascurando i rischi interni che rappresentano una percentuale significativa degli incidenti.

Gli istituti finanziari che implementano misure proattive di sicurezza informatica ottengono vantaggi operativi.

• Swift data recovery capabilities help prevent extended downtime during incidents. Organizations can restore critical systems within minutes rather than days, maintaining business continuity and customer service even under adverse conditions.

• Automated compliance through integrated oversight helps financial institutions meet strict regulatory mandates. Comprehensive monitoring, documentation, and reporting capabilities streamline audit processes and help avoid compliance penalties. This automation reduces the manual effort required to demonstrate adherence to frameworks like DORA, PCI DSS, and NIS2.

• Early threat detection and response can help reduce operational costs associated with cyber incidents. Proactive identification of threats before they cause damage helps minimize recovery expenses, forensic investigation costs, and potential regulatory fines. The financial impact of a contained threat is a fraction of the cost of a full-scale breach.

• Perhaps most importantly, visible commitment to asset protection strengthens client trust. Financial institutions that demonstrate robust security practices build stronger relationships with customers increasingly concerned about data privacy and security. This trust translates directly into customer retention and competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.

Una società globale di servizi finanziari doveva affrontare sfide significative legate alla frammentazione della propria infrastruttura di Backup and Recovery. L’organizzazione presentava una mancanza di standardizzazione nelle politiche di Backup and Recovery e non disponeva di una soluzione coerente per la resilienza dei dati a causa di un ambiente di dati ampiamente distribuito con visibilità limitata.

Tale frammentazione comportava elevati costi operativi e un’architettura di backup non resiliente, che rendeva l’azienda vulnerabile alle crescenti minacce di ransomware rivolte al settore finanziario.

The company partnered with Cognizant and Commvault to implement a comprehensive cyber resilience strategy. The solution consolidated multiple point solutions into a single, unified platform for backup and recovery operations across a multi-country, hybrid environment. This approach eliminated potential gaps in data protection and addressed technical debt while providing end-to-end visibility into the company’s data environment.

I componenti chiave dell’implementazione includevano:

• Consolidation of data protection and recovery operations on the Commvault Cloud platform with a centralized architecture.

• De-duplication and compression technologies for faster backup and higher backup success rates.

• High-availability architecture for the backup infrastructure.

• Global standardization of backup and retention policies.

The unified platform ha consentito the enterprise to modernize its security and data policies, automate and optimize storage and recovery operations, and maintain compliance across various regulatory requirements. The solution leveraged AI-driven capabilities to provide greater intelligence and accuracy, including real-time anomaly detection and threat analysis for earlier warning of cyberthreats.

“Commvault provides end-to-end visibility to a complex enterprise data environment and granular recovery options to ensure data is always ready for business. Commvault is helping us deliver what true cybersecurity and resilience should be.” said Siddhaarth Pandey, Director, Cloud, Infrastructure, and Security Services Practice at Cognizant.

I risultati sono stati impressionanti:

• 40% faster backup and restore rates for critical servers with storage snapshot integrations and disk-based backups.

• 100% server coverage with a unified platform for all workloads across different backup locations.

• 99% backup success rate through consolidated operations and diligent backup management.

• Effective management of 1024 PBT data across 3000+ clients, including Salesforce and Microsoft 365 workloads.

• Reduced risk, data footprint, and storage costs through global de-duplication and compression.

• Enhanced disaster recovery through backup replication between primary and secondary sites.

• Ransomware alerting at the media agent level.

This transformation ha consentito the financial services company to establish a holistic cyber resilience strategy to defend against ransomware and other cyber risks while maintaining the integrity and security of vital data across multiple locations.

Commvault’s unified platform offre agli istituti finanziari funzionalità complete to identify and mitigate cyber threats across their environments. The solution integrates advanced security features with data protection to create a cohesive defense strategy tailored to the unique needs of financial services organizations.

Core strengths of Commvault’s approach include:

• Sophisticated threat detection: AI-forward anomaly detection identifies potential ransomware and other threats before they impact critical systems.

• Immutable backups: Protection of financial data with backup copies that remain secure even if production systems are compromised.

• Compliance search capabilities: Rapid identification and retrieval of specific data required for regulatory inquiries or audits.

• Comprehensive data backup: Protection of diverse financial workloads across on-premises, cloud, and SaaS environments.

• Accelerated recovery: Minimized downtime through rapid restoration of critical financial systems and data.

• Multi-environment management: Unified protection across hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures common in financial services.

Financial institutions benefit from Commvault’s centralized approach to resilienza informatica. The platform’s simplicity reduces the complexity of managing security across disparate environments. Its scalability accommodates growth without compromising protection. Most importantly, it provides comprehensive coverage for the diverse systems and data types found in modern financial organizations.

Commvault’s team of financial services experts can provide additional insights into protecting specific banking, investment, and insurance workloads. Organizations can develop tailored strategies to address their unique security challenges and compliance requirements with expert guidance on implementation and optimization.

Financial institutions must prioritize resilienza informatica to protect their critical assets, maintain customer trust, and meet regulatory requirements. Modern cyber threats require sophisticated, integrated solutions that can adapt to the changing landscape while providing comprehensive protection across hybrid environments.

A unified approach to data protection and resilienza informatica helps organizations stay ahead of threats while maintaining operational efficiency and regulatory compliance.

Richiedi una demo to see how we can help strengthen your financial institution’s resilienza informatica strategy.