Cyber Threats In Banking Sector

Banks, just like most every other business out there, are reaching out to technology to help them gain an edge against their competitors. However, with using technology to increase our experience in the banking realm, there also comes a new set of threats and risks. “50% of consumers would consider switching banks if theirs suffered a cyber-attack, with 47 per cent admitting they would “lose complete trust” in their bank, should the worst happen” (Ismail, Nick. (2017)). So, how can banks prevent the worst from happening? In this paper, I will go over what modern technology has affected banking, what threats banks need to look out for, and how banks might counteract these attacks. As a community across the globe, we have seen technological advances from landlines to the IPhone X or from MySpace to Facebook.

So, it should come as no surprise that the companies we shop from or do banking with would need a technological upgrade themselves. Some things that we can look forward to from our banking experience now and in the near future are upgraded ATMs, automated employees, and of course mobile and digital banking. The idea of upgraded ATMs could mean that “soon [we]’ll be able to conduct contactless ATM transactions using a smartphone” (Csiszar, John. (2018)) and not only would that be a possibility, but biometric identification systems for ATMs have already started to appear overseas which can dramatically decrease the risk of ATMs being hacked by criminals. Automated employees are “technologies such as machine learning and cloud computing, which automate [banking] operations” (Csiszar, John. (2018)) and by using these, the need for in-person communication and human errors can be drastically reduced not to mention saving money on hiring. Mobile and digital banking have been one of the technologies that we have seen for quite a while. More and more banks are stepping up to the plate with banking apps and new ways to make banking easier for their clientele.

Threats, of course, will come with online-banking just as they do with any business strategy. For example, in my workplace, there are people who try to use false coupons from their phone or ones they made in order to buy salon merchandise at a much lower price than what they were ever intended to go for. We avoid those threats by training new employees to be aware of these people and make sure that no one scans any coupons from a cellular device. So, what do banks have to watch for? Jackpotting and synthetic fraud are just two things that come to my mind when thinking about threats that can affect banks. Jackpotting refers to when a hacker “compromises an ATM to spit out cash at the breakneck speed of up to 40 bills every 30 seconds” (Altman, Howard. (2018)) which is of course dangerous to all banks as the ability to do that could cause a significant loss to your clientele as well as your funds. Synthetic fraud is similar to identity theft where the thief in question will assume a false identity, but the difference here is that they will make fake names and use made-up social security numbers that cannot be traced which of course makes the culprits more difficult to track down. Thankfully, there are ways that a bank can help to avoid or prevent threats like these, and others that may come across. Firstly, and most simply, a bank could increase their security measures. Whether they add security cameras or physical bodyguards, the simple act of beefing up security could potentially be enough to ward off potential criminals.

After all, “cameras across London help solve almost six crimes a day” (BBC News. (2010)) and I know that isn’t a United States statistic, but “England has more CCTV cameras than any country in the world, with half a million making up its network” (Conger, Cristin. (2008)) which is significant. Another thing that a bank might consider is the protection of network segmentation which “limits the ability for a hacker to move laterally across a compromised network” (Tech Beacon (n. d. )). Through these methods, banks can protect their loyal clientele from potential attacks to their money and information. In conclusion, banks are improving things by upgrading ATMs, gaining automated employees, and supplying mobile and digital banking; they are facing threats of jackpotting and synthetic fraud among other things, and they can learn to combat those threats by increasing security and using network segmentation. Not every business holds money for its customers like a bank does so it is highly important that banks have the ability and technology to care for their customers. In the end, all businesses could learn a lesson from what banks have to avoid. After all, businesses in general could benefit from knowing what threats come to other businesses. Chances are, if you treat your business like it is as important as a bank, you will have the ability to care for your customers in a bigger way.