Cybercrime is a massive threat to the financial services industry. Unfortunately, many attacks come from employees with inside access.
Employees need access to sensitive data and proprietary information to perform the functions of the business. This also creates a vulnerability, particularly in the financial industry.
Stealing data
One insider crime is stealing customers’ data that the employee has access to. The criminal can sell the data to a third party or use it for nefarious purposes. Insider data breaches often occur if an employee is leaving the company. In these instances, the person may want to cause harm to the company’s reputation.
Theft of intellectual property
Businesses in the financial industry use proprietary software to offer services to their clients. A malicious insider can take source codes or other information to run this software. The bad actor could sell it to a competitor.
Release of ransomware
Cybercriminals who prey on businesses using ransomware may recruit existing employees to help in their efforts. A ransomware attack locks up a company’s systems to prevent the industry from accessing records and key data. The attacker requires the company to pay a ransom to release the data.
For a ransomware attack to work, a system user must activate the attack. Sometimes an employee accidentally opens a malicious file. Financial industry workers may also trigger the attack on purpose in exchange for compensation from the attacker.
The financial industry controls the sensitive data of many users and must take extensive steps to protect against cybercrimes.
