As businesses continue to slowly transition to a post-COVID-19 world, financial institutions are no different.
BAE Systems, a global company with offices in 17 countries, recently released the BAE Systems Applied Intelligence COVID Crime Index 2021 Report, which examines and provides analysis of the impact cybercrimes had on the financial services and customers during the pandemic. The data is based on a survey performed against 902 financial institutions, two instances of which I wanted to highlight in this article.
The first statistic from respondents indicates that slightly over half of them (51%) had to adapt their security posture and strategy as a result of COVID-19, with an average of 18 weeks to recalibrate. While financial institutions weren’t the only institutions in this situation as a result of COVID, this statistic stresses the need for all institutions to understand the importance of a comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery program that includes considerations for a pandemic.
In regards to cybercrime during the pandemic, 74% of those that responded stated they experienced an increase in malicious activity due to the pandemic. Respondents also indicated that their budgets for security, fraud and risk had been cut on average by 26% over the prior 12 months. This sets up an interesting questions to whether the increased activity is due to decreased budgets or just due to a continued increase of cybercrime in the world.
Either way, financial institutions aren’t the only ones suffering decreased budgets and increased attacks. Organizations across all industries should prioritize cost-effective preventative steps despite budgeting challenges due to the long-term benefits to ensure their security posture and prevention/detection techniques will protect them from attacks.
Schneider Downs recently held a Financial Services Webinar where we spoke on fraud risk assessments, implementing secure systems in the cloud and cybersecurity. A replay of the webinar is available at www.schneiderdowns.com/2021-financial-services-webinar.
About Schneider Downs Cybersecurity
The Schneider Downs cybersecurity practice consists of experts offering a comprehensive set of information technology security services, including penetration testing, intrusion prevention/detection review, ransomware security, vulnerability assessments and a robust digital forensics and incident response team. For more information, visit www.schneiderdowns.com/cybersecurity or contact the team at [email protected].
In addition, our Incident Response Team is available 24x7x365 at 1-800-993-8937 if you suspect or are experiencing a network incident.
