Home » Financial Services Companies Could Face Ransomware Vulnerabilities for Another Two Years
The financial services sector is falling behind other industries when it comes to bridging the gap between the new technologies they have rapidly introduced to deal with COVID-19 pandemic, and the security measures required to protect them, according to research from Veritas Technologies, the global leader in enterprise data protection.
The Veritas Vulnerability Lag Report, surveyed 2,050 IT executives from the UAE and 18 other countries, including 245 respondents from the financial services sector. It discovered that companies in the financial services space were more likely to be struggling to keep pace with their security than those from most other sectors, with nearly half (48%) stating that their data security was lagging behind their digital transformation deployments. The average across all industries was 39%.
As a result, financial services companies are leaving themselves exposed to an increased risk of ransomware and other data loss incidents. The heightened threat to the sector is set to continue for another two years as organisations struggle to close the gap.
Johnny Karam, Managing Director & Vice President of International Emerging Region at Veritas Technologies, said: “In line with the UAE government’s ambitions to establish a strong digital economy, the UAE financial services sector has made significant strides in introducing new technologies and services to cater to evolving customer needs. However, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a curveball that no one could have seen coming, forcing organisations around the world to make transitions more rapidly than they anticipated. This has meant that the pace of security rollouts to protect this innovation has lagged behind, leaving them badly exposed to digital risk.
“In the UAE, we’re seeing businesses across all industries make strong progress with their data protection efforts. Unfortunately, the global financial services industry still has a long way to go. The good news is companies in this sector are beginning to redress the balance: 16% are confident that they will be able to close the gap this year.”
Financial services organisations that want to eliminate their vulnerability lag within 12 months would need to spend, on average, an additional $2.61m and hire 29 new members of IT staff. $2.61m is 5% more than the average required across all sectors, which may be disappointing news for IT leaders in the sector, given that they already typically spent 19% more than their peers on IT initiatives last year.
Financial services companies were also less likely to have the funds required to take action everywhere that their security was lagging. 43% of respondents in the financial sector said that they lacked the funds to close all of their gaps, compared to 28% of energy companies and just 25% in the public sector.
Cloud environments are most at risk while this vulnerability lag persists: 82% of financial services respondents have implemented new cloud capabilities or expanded elements of their cloud infrastructure beyond their original plans because of the pandemic. With organisations having introduced an average of six new cloud services in the last twelve months alone, 54% of respondents said that they had gaps in their cloud protection strategy – more than any other area.
Responding to the global survey, three in five IT leaders at financial services organisations said that security risks have risen due to COVID-led digital transformation initiatives, with 44% specifying that the risk of ransomware attacks in particular, had increased.
Business operations have already suffered due to the vulnerability. 89% of financial services stated that their organisation had experienced downtime in the last 12 months, not least because, on average, financial services were the victims of 3.22 ransomware attacks which caused disruption and downtime to their businesses – this is nearly a third (32%) higher than the average across all sectors.
Karam said: “While the pressures that COVID-led digital transformation put on IT departments weren’t unique to the financial services sector, its position as a highly-attractive target to hackers may have meant that the industry has felt them more acutely. With hackers beating at the door, and limited resources to push them back, it can feel like the IT team is between a rock and a hard place. However, astute IT leaders are finding a third way: partnering with data protection providers that can minimise the admin burden of data protection through simplified tools leveraging AI and machine learning. Taking this approach can help financial organisations to accelerate their security rollouts and stop their protection infrastructure lagging behind their digital transformation.”
MEA Markets is happy to announce that the MEA Business Awards are returning for the sixth consecutive year! This established awards programme identifies those individuals and companies who excel in their respective industries, encompassing the entirety of the Middle East and Africa in our search to highlight the firms that go above and beyond to establish themselves as business leaders.
Visit our awards hereMEA Markets is very proud to host the UAE Business Awards 2023 for its seventh instalment! This awards programme aims to reward a vastly diverse range of hardworking businesses from across the United Arab Emirates region, who are demonstrating innovation and excellence throughout a turbulent economic climate many firms are suffering through.
Visit our awards hereFor the past five years the African Excellence Awards have recognised the very best of African Industry, and MEA Markets is excited to announce that this respected programme will be returning for its sixth edition in 2023! The African Excellence Awards are an essential guide to the key sectors driving growth throughout the continent, rewarding those outstanding companies and individuals whose entrepreneurship has strengthened Africa’s position as the next global economic powerhouse.
Visit our awards hereWe have packages to suit everyone. Let us help work out which one would suit your needs!
Ground Floor, Suite B-D,
The Maltsters, Wetmore Road,
Burton-on-trent, Staffordshire,
DE14 1LS
MEA Markets is a quarterly publication dedicated to researching and publicising the major moves and events as they happen across the entire Middle East & Africa region.
Our team of highly trained and committed journalists, contributors, researchers and worldwide industry insiders are on hand to ensure that our global readership enjoys 24/7 access to timely and entertaining content that keeps them up to date with the ins and outs of this fast moving region.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cf_use_ob | past | Cloudflare sets this cookie to improve page load times and to disallow any security restrictions based on the visitor's IP address. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category . |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
CookieLawInfoConsent | 1 year | Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. |
PHPSESSID | session | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
na_id | 1 year 1 month | The na_id is set by AddThis to enable sharing of links on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. |
na_rn | 1 month | The na_rn cookie is used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. It allows to record details on user behaviour and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com. |
na_sc_e | 1 month | The na_sc_e cookie is used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. It allows to record details on user behaviour and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com. |
na_sr | 1 month | The na_sr cookie is used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. It allows to record details on user behaviour and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com. |
na_srp | 1 minute | The na_srp cookie is used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. It allows to record details on user behaviour and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com. |
na_tc | 1 year 1 month | The na_tc cookie is used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. It allows to record details on user behaviour and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com. |
ouid | 1 year 1 month | Associated with the AddThis widget, this cookie helps users to share content across various networking and sharing forums. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
d | 3 months | Quantserve sets this cookie to anonymously track information on how visitors use the website. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
__gads | 1 year 24 days | The __gads cookie, set by Google, is stored under DoubleClick domain and tracks the number of times users see an advert, measures the success of the campaign and calculates its revenue. This cookie can only be read from the domain they are set on and will not track any data while browsing through other sites. |
_ga | 2 years | The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors. |
_ga_21JSMT0NZV | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. |
_ga_7GTFNZD3Y9 | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. |
_gat_gtag_UA_63302014_1 | 1 minute | Set by Google to distinguish users. |
_gat_gtag_UA_67421741_1 | 1 minute | Set by Google to distinguish users. |
_gid | 1 day | Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. |
aigm_tracking_consent | 1 year | Created by Monster Tracking v2 for internal tracking/fingerprinting - determines whether the user has consented to being tracked by allowing cookies. |
aigm_tracking_id | 1 year | Created by Monster Tracking v2 for internal tracking/fingerprinting - contains the consent ID number of the user. |
ANON_ID | 3 months | This cookie, set by Tribal Fusion, collects data on user visits to the website, such as what pages have been accessed . |
u | 1 year | This cookie is used by Bombora to collect information that is used either in aggregate form, to help understand how websites are being used or how effective marketing campaigns are, or to help customize the websites for visitors. |
uid | 1 year 1 month | This is a Google UserID cookie that tracks users across various website segments. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_rxuuid | 1 year | Unruly Media sets this cookie to store information on how the end user uses the website and any advertising that the end user may have seen before visiting the said website. |
ab | 1 year | Owned by agkn, this cookie is used for targeting and advertising purposes. |
ANON_ID_old | 3 months | This cookie helps to categorise the users interest and to create profiles in terms of resales of targeted marketing. This cookie is used to collect user information such as what pages have been viewed on the website for creating profiles. |
CMID | 1 year | Casale Media sets this cookie to collect information on user behavior, for targeted advertising. |
CMPRO | 3 months | CMPRO cookie is set by CasaleMedia for anonymous user tracking, and for targeted advertising. |
CMPS | 3 months | CMPS cookie is set by CasaleMedia for anonymous user tracking based on user's website visits, for displaying targeted ads. |
DSID | 1 hour | This cookie is set by DoubleClick to note the user's specific user identity. It contains a hashed/encrypted unique ID. |
IDE | 1 year 24 days | Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. |
KADUSERCOOKIE | 3 months | The cookie, set by PubMatic, registers a unique ID that identifies a returning user's device across websites that use the same ad network. The ID is used for targeted ads. |
KTPCACOOKIE | 1 day | The cookie, set by PubMatic, registers a unique ID that identifies a returning user's device across websites that use the same ad network. The ID is used for targeted ads. |
ljt_reader | 1 year | This is a Lijit Advertising Platform cookie used for recognizing the browser or device when users return to their site or one of their partner's sites. |
mc | 1 year 1 month | Quantserve sets the mc cookie to anonymously track user behaviour on the website. |
mt_mop | 1 month | MediaMath uses this cookie to synchronize the visitor ID with a limited number of trusted exchanges and data partners. |
pxrc | 2 months | This cookie is set by pippio to provide users with relevant advertisements and limit the number of ads displayed. |
rlas3 | 1 year | RLCDN sets this cookie to provide users with relevant advertisements and limit the number of ads displayed. |
suid_legacy | 1 year | Collects information on user preferences and interaction with web-campaign content which is used on CRM-campaign-platforms used by website owners for promoting events or products. |
test_cookie | 15 minutes | The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
tuuid | 3 months | The tuuid cookie, set by BidSwitch, stores an unique ID to determine what adverts the users have seen if they have visited any of the advertiser's websites. The information is used to decide when and how often users will see a certain banner. |
tuuid_lu | 3 months | This cookie, set by BidSwitch, stores a unique ID to determine what adverts the users have seen while visiting an advertiser's website. This information is then used to understand when and how often users will see a certain banner. |
uuid | 3 months | MediaMath sets this cookie to avoid the same ads from being shown repeatedly and for relevant advertising. |
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
b | 1 year | No description |
CMTS | 3 months | No description |
cookietest | session | No description |
GoogleAdServingTest | session | No description |
suid | 1 year | No description |