Financial Crime World

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Cyberattacks on the Financial Industry: Threats and Solutions

Types of Cyberattacks on the Financial Industry

The financial industry is facing a growing threat from various types of cyberattacks. Some of these threats include:

Insider Threats

Insider threats occur when employees or contractors misuse their access to sensitive information, either intentionally or unintentionally. These threats can result from malicious, negligent, or compromised insiders.

  • Malicious insiders: Employees who intentionally use their access to cause harm to the organization.
  • Negligent insiders: Employees who unintentionally cause harm due to lack of training or awareness.
  • Compromised insiders: Insiders whose accounts have been taken over by attackers.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks

Distributed denial-of-service attacks overwhelm a bank’s or financial institution’s online services with excessive traffic, causing disruptions and rendering services unavailable to legitimate users.

Combating Insider Threats and DDoS Attacks with User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)

User entity behavior analytics is a solution that can help combat these threats by employing machine learning algorithms to analyze historical data, establishing a baseline of normal behavior for users and entities. UEBA enables proactive defense by identifying anomalous activities indicative of security threats in real-time.

Anomaly Detection

  • Machine learning algorithms: UEBA employs machine learning algorithms to analyze historical data.
  • Establishing a baseline: UEBA establishes a baseline of normal behavior for users and entities.

Early Identification of Threats

  • Proactive defense: UEBA enables proactive defense by identifying anomalous activities indicative of security threats in real-time.

Real-World Examples of UEBA in the BFSI Sector

Here are some examples that illustrate the role of UEBA in the BFSI sector:

Detecting Spear Phishing Attacks

A marketing manager at Alpha Financial Inc. falls prey to a spear phishing attempt, but the company’s UEBA solution flags the execution of multiple cmdlets in PowerShell and alerts the system administrator.

Preventing DDoS Attacks

Omega Bank’s UEBA solution monitors and analyzes user and network behavior in real-time, alerting the senior IT security analyst to a potential DDoS attack.

Detecting Insider Threats

Andrew, a financial adviser at Goldguard Holdings, attempts to launder money by disabling notifications to owners of dormant bank accounts and depositing illegally obtained funds into their accounts. The company’s UEBA solution detects anomalies in his behavior, alerting the system administrator to potential malicious activity.

Unified SIEM Solution for BFSI Industry

ManageEngine Log360 is a unified SIEM solution that provides ML-based user and entity behavior analytics, an integrated risk management system, and identity-based threat detection. It can help detect and prevent various internal and external threats faced by the BFSI industry.