According to one recent study, the average cost of a single consolidated data breach rose to an enormous $4.45 million in 2023.
Note that this is an unfortunate 2.3% increase from the already harrowing number of $4.35 million from just one year prior.
It doesn't matter what type of business you're running or even the industry that you're operating in - there is no such thing as a "minor inconvenience" when it comes to cybersecurity.
Not only do you have productivity losses related to the impact itself to worry about, you need to modify and/or outright replace anything that was impacted.
You'll likely have significant reputational damage to worry about that you might not ever recover from.
There's a reason why about 51% of the businesses that suffer data loss of any kind shut down within just two years.
When you think about the sheer amount of damage that can be done when you're running an organization in the financial services or banking industry, know that things are exponentially worse.
Here, the average cost of a data breach hit $6.08 million last year.
Not only do you have all the issues outlined above to worry about, but you're also looking at regulatory fines and potential violations on top of it.
All this adds up, which helps to underline why banking IT security is something that must become a top priority for organizational leadership if it hasn't already.
Unfortunately, in the fast-paced digital world that we're now living in, there is truly no way to protect yourself from becoming a target of hackers with malicious intentions.
But you can protect yourself from becoming the victim of a successful attack, which is what IT security best practices are all about.
As we head into 2025, it's important to remain aware of the most common cybersecurity threats that often target banking organizations in particular.
When people hear the term "hacking," they usually think about rogue actors somewhere in the world gaining access to a network by force.
In reality, there are a wide range of different threats to be aware of, all with varying degrees of sophistication:
The banking industry in particular is a prime target for these types of attacks, in large part, because they're so effective.
Banks manage substantial amounts of money and have information about countless financial transactions.
Think about the value of that information on the black market.
Banks also have inherently complicated systems that involve processing transactions in real-time, customer data, and more.
The more complex a system is, the harder it is to fully protect - thus making it easier to exploit.
Again, the consequences of a data breach in a highly regulated industry like banking will likely be swift and severe.
Financial penalties will be imposed almost immediately - you'll be subject to fines simply because you were not in compliance with data protection laws.
You'll have long-term reputational damage that will be difficult to recover from, legal liabilities that you'll likely be dealing with for years, and much more.
Keep in mind that this is all before you get to the massive operational disruption that happens while the attack is still going on.
One crucial idea to understand about all this is that there is no "one right way" to protect yourself against hackers in the modern era.
Every organization is a bit different and no strategy will work equally well from one banking business to the next.
Likewise, the hackers and people out there who want to do you harm are always looking for new ways to do it.
You, too, must be proactive or you'll lose the game before it's even had a chance to begin.
All that is to say, when putting together a list of effective IT security measures, you need to leverage a series of techniques that are all working together and that add up to something more effective than any one of them could be individually.
This includes but is certainly not limited to ones like:
You'll also want to make sure that you're adequately investing in not only encryption as outlined above, but also firewalls and a robust intrusion detection system for your organization.
Firewalls help to block out unauthorized access to networks and systems from the outside.
This can filter traffic and prevent people from taking advantage of vulnerabilities even if they're discovered.
Intrusion detection systems, otherwise known as IDS for short, will detect unusual activity within that network.
It constantly monitors for signs of not only a full-fledged attack but unauthorized access at all.
That way, in the event that you do have a problem, you can take care of it as quickly as possible.
Indeed, continuous monitoring and threat detection should be one of the key takeaways from all this.
Continuous monitoring helps you be mindful of problems like unusual login times, access attempts from unusual locations, and more.
You can quickly get alerted to signs that a breach may be underway, all so that you can snap into action and stop a small problem now before it has a chance to become a much bigger (and more expensive) one down the road.
But more than anything, you need to realize that building a secure IT environment means more than just investing in the latest and greatest tools.
Yes, they are important - but if you lack certain other basic elements, like a culture of security awareness within your organization, you don't have nearly as much as you'd hoped.
Creating a culture of security awareness within your organization requires you to focus on employee engagement.
You need to teach employees how to adopt good security practices and encourage them to do so.
This includes not only the skills they need to recognize things like phishing attempts, but also the use of strong passwords as well.
Executive leadership also needs to help underline the importance of strong cybersecurity on a regular basis.
This, coupled with cross-department collaboration, will go a long way towards making sure that everyone takes this issue as seriously as it needs to be.
You'll also want to conduct regular security audits and compliance checks to help manage any vulnerabilities that do exist.
This can also help significantly with compliance and regulations, as you'll be regularly reviewing whether you're actually in compliance before you find out the hard (read: expensive) way.
Managed service providers, otherwise known as MSPs for short, can help enormously with all this and more.
They can help implement and maintain security controls like the aforementioned firewalls, IDS systems, and even endpoint protection.
They can also offer threat intelligence to help your organization stay informed about the latest and greatest threats and how to mitigate risk from them as much as you can.
Crucially, they can also help manage backups and disaster recovery plans.
Even in the event that you do suffer from something like a breach, they can help make sure you're able to pick right back up again as quickly as possible.
Finally, an MSP can help make sure that you're in compliance with industry regulations through regular audits and updates to all security measures as required.
You'll want to make sure that you're choosing an MSP with banking industry experience in particular, however.
Make absolutely no mistake about it: the importance of robust IT security in heavily regulated industries like banking is something that cannot be overstated.
Even in the event that you just suffer a minor data breach with few consequences, you're looking at an enormous cost associated with lost productivity alone.
But that's a dramatically oversimplified way to describe what will actually happen.
First, you'll begin to lose the trust of your customers.
There are few things more important to them than their financial well-being and if they feel like you can't be trusted with that, they will look elsewhere for those who can.
Then, you'll catch the unwanted attention of regulatory committees that want to know what happened and what you should have been doing to prevent it.
Even if the cyberattack was the result of a total accident, ignorance is still not a defense - meaning it won't help you escape the fines that are probably coming your way.
This is why you cannot, under any circumstances, take a lax approach to IT security best practices.
This is not a situation where you can afford for something to break, at which point you step in to fix it.
You need to stop the issue from happening in the first place to the fullest extent that you're able to.
That's why you need to implement the best practices discussed moving forward.
Once you've lost the trust of your banking customers, no amount of apologies or promises will be able to get it back.
At that point, it's too late.
Don't let inaction today put you in that type of position tomorrow.
If you'd like to find out more information about strengthening banking IT security or the IT security best practices that you should be capitalizing on in 2025 and beyond, or if you just have any additional questions that you'd like to go over with someone in a bit more detail, please don't delay - contact us today.
Then, reach out to Integrity Technology Solutions to see how we can help you and your business.