Did the pandemic leave firms vulnerable to cyberattacks?
Financial advisers should not neglect their cybersecurity protections as financial services firms are particularly vulnerable and the fast switch to remote working may have left them with inadequate protection.
The hack on Optus last weekend had only served to highlight the sophistication of scams and Grayson Clarke, head of market planning at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said financial services and telcos were more likely to be targeted due to their size as they had access to large volumes of consumer data. They was also likely to be high crossover between the scams that affected the two sectors.
He warned that the move to remote working during the pandemic had forced many firms to act quickly to set up websites and move client data online. However, the speed of the transition meant there may be firms that failed to set up sufficient protections or fraud defences and this may only come to light if there was a problem.
Konstantin Poptodorov, director of market planning at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said the three most important things an adviser or wealth manager should remember was to have the right tools in place, to have the right culture and implementing the right processes in testing, reporting and auditing.
“The most expensive part of complying is the hiring and training of staff as it is skilled work. There is an underemployment problem at the moment so it is hard to find the right people and access to talent is hard.
“But we find that companies that have invested in the right technology, that’s those dedicated to fraud prevention and protection of digital channels, find the overall cost of staying compliant has reduced.”
The correct use of technology was also a way to make staff more effective as it meant they were able to lessen the time spent on non-urgent issues and focus on those were more likely to be criminal activity.
He also praised Australia for its cybersecurity prevention activities and regulation and said there was a good amount of collaboration happening between the regulator and firms.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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