Page 15 - Cyber Warnings

Why Security Remains the Biggest Issue for FinTech and

Financial Services

Financial cybercrime and fraud is big business. With billions of dollars lost to hackers and cyber
criminals each year, it has never been more important for financial firms to ensure their - and
their clients’ - security.

MacLane Wilkison of ZeroDB explains just why security measures are so important to the
financial sector.

Money makes the world go round, at least, that’s how the saying goes. So it stands to reason
that anything that prevents access to money, or serves as a hindrance to the flow of capital, is a
problem for global business and economic development.
Sadly, financial fraud - a significant obstacle to access to capital - is big business. The total
global worth of financial cyber crime is predicted to hit $2 trillion by 2019 and according to Ginni
Rometty, the chairman, president and CEO of IBM, cybercrime is “the greatest threat to every
company in the world”.

According to a report from Symantec, financial organizations - including banks - remain the
most likely victims of cybercrime.

While simplistic “script kiddie” attacks aren’t typically effective against financial institutions,
banks are being increasingly targeted by well resourced and sophisticated attacks.

Bankers are rightly worried. According to a report from the Big Four accountancy firm Deloitte,
cyber crime is the biggest single economic risk to the financial services sector. If that weren’t
enough, the finance industry suffers from 300 times more attacks than any other industry.

In the face of such persistent attacks, constant vigilance with regard to security is the only way
for financial institutions to protect their and their customers’ data.

The Rise of FinTech and FinTech Crime

In recent years, FinTech - financial technology - has grown exponentially. The United States is
the leading country for FinTech development, where bank spending on new financial technology
is predicted to top $19 billion by 2017.

Globally, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending hit $1.82 billion in 2014, a staggering figure.

However the rise of FinTech has seen an equivalent increase in financial fraud. According to
research from PwC, another of the world’s Big Four accountancy firms, more than one third of
businesses experienced some form of economic crime in the last 24 months, of which
cybercrime was the second most reported form.

15 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – September 2016 Edition
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