Manual banking has lost its popularity to online banking. A huge percentage of people now use internet-based transactions to conduct business. But the downside is that there is also a large number of cyber-security threats in the banking and financial sector.  These threats are also becoming very complex in nature and have the capability of affecting the economy to a huge extent.

Financial institutions such as banks store a large number of private data and personal information on their servers. Therefore, they must develop and apply all means to protect their system from the most complex cyber security threats. It is important to be aware of the most recently developed styles of attacks developed by cyber criminals.

Data breaches have become extremely common and Bahaa Abdul Hussein feels it is very important to watch out for these cybersecurity threats in 2023:

Ransomware

Businesses attacked by ransomware have increased exponentially since 2018. Unfortunately, even to this date, there doesn’t seem to be a definite fix to this huge problem. Ransomware is a cybersecurity threat that locks out users from their systems and encrypts their files. Hackers then blackmail to release the access.

Risks arising out of remote work

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an increase in remote and hybrid work. There is also more use of cloud-based software platforms. As such employees of financial institutions are not using their office servers or networks, and there is a greater possibility of cyber attacks on the data. Thereby, strict surveillance should be implemented.

Cloud-based security attacks

Cybercriminals are able to easily target data and software systems stored in the cloud. Businesses in the financial sector must appropriately configure their cloud infrastructure to protect from security breaches and cloud-based attacks.

Forms of social engineering

The biggest threat that banking and finance can face is social engineering. This kind of threat makes consumers share confidential information like credentials. Even the staff members can be tricked into sharing secret information. Phishing campaigns and generating fake invoices which look authentic are forms of social engineering attacks.

Targeting supply chain

When targeting a software manufacturer, cybercriminals are spreading malware by sending dubious code to people in the supply chain, especially to customers. They access the customer network by compromising the distribution systems.

Final thoughts

To protect yourself from possible cyber security threats in 2023, you must be aware of the different and new kinds of threats. Plan ahead on protecting your data and also steps to take if faced with a security breach. Thank you for your interest in Bahaa Abdul Hussein blogs. For more information, please stay tuned to www.bahaaabdulhussein.com