Five Strategies for Strengthening Your Bank’s Cybersecurity Posture By Steve Sanders In its seventh annual survey, CSI asked banking executives from across the nation about their top strategies and priorities for 2022. The results were used to inform the 2022 Banking Priorities Executive Report, which details the challenges and opportunities in today’s financial landscape. When asked about the one issue that will most affect the financial industry in 2022, it’s no surprise that cybersecurity (26%) outranked the other two leading issues – recruiting/retaining employees (21%) and regulatory change (14%). What Did Bankers Identify as the Top Cybersecurity Threats for 2022? According to the 2022 results, an overwhelming majority of bankers view employee-targeted phishing (57%) as the top cybersecurity threat, with customer-targeted phishing (51%) following closely. Often the result of social engineering schemes, 48% of bankers worry about the threat of ransomware. As cybercriminals enhance their tactics to continue targeting data-rich institutions, this concern is well-founded. Ransomware is a type of malware that locks out the authorized user once installed and encrypts the available data to hold for ransom, posing an operational and reputational risk. Incidents of ransomware have risen, with the global attack volume skyrocketing by more than 150% for the first half of 2021 compared to the previous year. The current geopolitical climate, greater reliance on digital channels and increased turnover in a variety of industries have created an environment ripe for vulnerabilities. And cybercriminals are wasting no time exploiting the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of systems to launch sophisticated attacks. www.coloradobankers.org 18
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