By James Bond, Finance Sector Lead, BlueFort Security
Cyber attacks are ten a penny these days. It’s become the new normal, and as a result it’s really only the significant incidents that garner our attention. When they do, as cybersecurity professionals, we think ‘thank goodness that’s not us’.
The fallout of the recent attacks on a number of retail outlets is something everyone in cybersecurity is closely following. According to this article in the Financial Times, losses could be as much as £100 million from its cyber insurers. Eye-watering stuff.
Whilst my background and remit at BlueFort Security is FS&I, the same overarching principles that lie at the heart of this latest retail breach are equally applicable in my neck of the woods – organisations must be prepared for any breach that could be operationally impacting, or service impacting.
With this in mind, those of us in FS&I are keenly aware of the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) which came into force in January this year. It aims is to improve cyber resilience in the financial sector and it applies to UK organisations that operate in the EU.
Compliance with DORA was one of the key topics of discussion at the recent FS Information Security Network event on 13th May in London. Delegates from every corner of financial services were represented, all keen to better understand how to strengthen their organisations’ defences, develop risk management frameworks, and ensure security has the highest priority position within their company.
Visibility is Key
Within cybersecurity visibility is key. If you don’t know something exists, how can you protect it? This was one of the key topics of discussion at this week’s event. So many of the challenges around cybersecurity link back to identity. Are identities both human and non-human really who they say are? How can you know? How can you track and control access to the many identities that operate within your network?
If you consider the myriad threats that exist – whether that’s ransomware, third party risk, API security, cloud security (and the rest), identity and access management (IAM) sits front and centre.
Consider the importance of IAM for financial services. 80% of breaches involve compromised identities; the average cost per financial data breach is £5.4 million, and 92% believe customer trust is critical to financial relationships.
BlueFort’s CTO, Josh Neame, hosted a workshop on this very topic at the FS event. Entitled “Securing Trust – IAM Strategies for Financial Services” the session covered the sector’s unique challenges including:
- Legacy systems – decades-old infrastructure resistant to modern security
- Complex environments – hybrid cloud deployments with fragmented identity stores
- Regulatory scrutiny – FCA, PRA, GDPR, and DORA all demand comprehensive controls
- Insider risk – privileged users with excessive access pose significant threats
Josh’s workshop also described the components of a core IAM capabilities framework:
- Privileged Access Controls (PAC) – just-in-time admin rights with approved workflows; adaptive MFA – risk-based authentication across all channels; and
- Lifecycle Management – automotive provisioning with risk-based certification
Starting Your Own Identity Journey
As noted in this recent post, identity security is one of the most significant challenges security and IT leaders face today. The latest Verizon DBIR found that stolen identity and privileged access credentials account for 61% of all data breaches.
There’s way too much to get into in this short blog, but here are a number of high-level pointers to get you going:
- Start with visibility – identify and map all identities before implementing controls
- Prioritise privileged accounts – focus on admin access and non-human identities with the greatest risk potential
- Enable adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – deploy risk-based authentication across all channels. Hint: MFA everywhere!
- Map IAM to business risks – align security with specific financial threats
At BlueFort Security we work with a number of carefully curated technology partners that deliver a range of cybersecurity solutions. If you’re interested to learn more about how Identity and Access Management tools are evolving to address regulatory pressures, increased security threats, and the digital transformation journeys that FS&I organisations are facing, do get in touch. We offer no-obligation workshops that can help map out your organisation’s unique journey to identity protection.
Contact Us
Email: info@bluefort.com
Phone: 01252 917000
