Banks have historically been the guardians of customer information, but that has started to change with open banking; opening up information to third parties via customers has led banks to think more and more about security breaches; Now it’s not just about building a wall and not letting anyone in,” said Ram Bose, global retail banking consulting leader at Genpact, to TearSheet. “It’s about building a filter or strainer that lets some things in or out and not other things.”; the UK has regulations that mandate the sharing of info but the US has only set out standards and banks have been doing one off deals; new technologies like AI and machine learning can help to better secure agreements when banks are working with 20 or more potential partners; it is early days but banks can help to set up the standards they use by working together with fintechs and regulators. Source.
As bigger breaches occur startups focusing on cybersecurity have seen investment double in the last year; globally there was $7.6bn invested in cybersecurity startups this past year after seeing $3.8bn in 2016; global spending on cybersecurity was estimated to be over $80bn in 2017 as companies look to protect their data and company systems from evolving threats. Source.
Open banking is around the corner in the UK and recently the CFPB released guidelines on data sharing that has banks concerned about cybersecurity; Kathryn Petralia, chief operating officer of the online lender Kabbage believes banks and Fintechs should be held to the same standard regarding data; concerns over data include responsibility on data breaches, encryption and entry points for hackers; as data sharing becomes the norm both banks and fintechs will need to protect themselves at many levels. Source.
USAA, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank have started to look within the veteran community for skilled workers in the field of cybersecurity; hiring veterans has always been a source of pride for the banks but their specific military experience is seen as a big plus when it comes to cybersecurity; veterans are experienced and highly motivated, being able to find someone with cybersecurity know how can help to transform a banks defenses; the banks have also partnered with educational institutions which have programs geared at helping veterans transition to the workplace. Source.
Deloitte is the newest name to come under cyber attack where hackers accessed data on an email platform; the accounting firm said the cyber breach had affected “only very few clients” and that “no disruption had occurred to client businesses"; they notified government authorities of the hack when it occurred and have put a team together to figure out what happened. Source.
After a number of high profile breaches in 2017 lenders are looking to better protect themselves against evolving threats; writing a column in Bankless Times Tom Donlea of WhitePages Pro looks at some key things online lenders can do to better protect themselves; lenders can start moving away from using social security numbers as a personal identifier, AI and machine learning will play a bigger role, more lenders will begin to bring fraud fighting in house and blockchain will become more widely adopted. Source.
Kevin McPartland, the head of research for market structure and technology at Greenwich Associates put together his list of the top ten trends that will define finance in 2018; some of the highlights from the list include alternative data become less alternative and more part of the norm; regulators are better at getting things done as opposed to congress; continued innovation in the fintech space and the fear of a potential cyber breach in the space; banks will begin to focus more attention to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Source.
The new unit at the SEC was started in September to focus on potential illegal activities in the digital currency market; the ICO that was shut down promised returns of 1,000 percent; the SEC filed charges against Dominic Lacroix who they claim was trying to raise $15mn from thousands of investors. Source.
Publicly traded companies will soon face new regulatory requirements when it comes to reporting cybersecurity breached to investors; the SEC did not establish a timeline for when these new regulations will be in place or to what level a breach would need to be for disclosure purposes; this is in response to recent breaches of Equifax and the SEC which were disclosed well after the incident. Source.
Level39 has launched Cyber39, a program focused on fighting cyberthreats in London; Cyber39 will initially involve the 22 cybersecurity companies associated with the Level39 startup accelerator and it hopes to add more companies; additionally Level39 has also opened the Cyber Demonstration Centre in Canary Wharf with the support of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department of International Trade; the accelerator's efforts are aimed at building out cybersecurity solutions in the private sector and keeping London at the forefront of cybersecurity innovation. Source