Making Hay While the Rain Pours: Information Security Expert Perspectives on Financial Services
Report Summary
Making Hay While the Rain Pours: Information Security Expert Perspectives on Financial Services
While information security professionals see perimeter defenses as adequate, security threats from data breaches and insiders remain a concern.
Boston, MA, June 17, 2009 – A new report from Aite Group, LLC reveals the key trends in information security relating to the financial services sector as determined by information security professionals, and identifies the areas of strength and weakness that currently confront the financial services industry.
Based on in-person interviews with 22 information security professionals conducted in April 2009, the report reveals that information security vendors feel perimeter defenses are in good shape and that the tools for defense from viruses, trojans and other forms of malware are sufficient at this time, even in light of the economic downturn and budget constraints. That is not to say that all frontiers are secure. Even with baseline security improvements and data breaches becoming less frequent, breaches are becoming more egregious. Nearly half of the information security professionals interviewed find the insider threat to be the biggest security vulnerability today.
"Internally controlling and recording access to sensitive information is becoming mission-critical; no institution wants the stigma that could come from being the next Société Générale or Heartland," says Nick Holland, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. "The association with data breaches that now mar these institutions will take a long time to clean off. By selling some insurance that a data breach can be avoided, information security vendors are receiving good business."
Information security vendors cited in this report include Actimize, Archer, IronKey, McAfee, Microsoft, PGP, Oracle, RSA and Verisign.
This 14-page Impact Note contains nine figures. Clients of Aite Group's Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, Institutional Securities & Investments and Wealth Management services can download the report.