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FinTech Trends Newsletter Week 7th August – 11th August 2017
Untruths about Hedge Fund Cybersecurity
and other investment management firms. The financial
consequences of a cyber attack can be significant and
could result in a serious impact to your firm’s reputation.
That’s where Storm IT Financial can help by easing the
burden of cost, expertise and knowledge to your
The cybersecurity landscape threat is ever present, leaving behind significant operational and reputational harm for alternative investment, hedge fund, wealth manager, private equity and financial services firms. Cyber-attacks have forced cybersecurity into global headline news, enough to fill any business with anxiety. We hear & see a lot of misleading and false information floating around. It is imperative that firms understand how to separate the facts from fiction and develop and deploy sophisticated and appropriate approaches to information security.
What exactly are these untruth’s? Let’s take a look……
#1: Cybersecurity? “The IT department deals with that”.
Cyber awareness needs to be embedded in the culture of the company, not just the IT team. Firms should communicate the importance of managing cyber risk to every employee in order to strengthen and integrate protocols into daily business operations. Never underestimate the effectiveness of social engineering attacks. Educating staff to avoid opening unsolicited attachments or clicking on suspicious links within emails is one of the most important areas for firms to concentrate on.
#2 : “Cyber criminals don’t target small businesses”
This statement can be particularly dangerous. Many small firms believe that because they are small, there is no risk of a cyber-attack. Therefore, there is no reason to take any precaution to prevent such an attack. In fact, the very opposite is true. In the eyes of the hackers, small businesses are often easy targets since they sometimes fail to take necessary measures to protect themselves.
#3: “I don’t have anything worth stealing”.
If you’ve asked “Why would anyone steal information I have on my electronic devices when it’s not valuable or worth stealing?” Nothing could be further from the truth. Everyone who owns an electronic device is at risk from a cyber-attack. Information stored on any de- vice, such as email account, credit cards, and social media accounts such as LinkedIn and Twitter, is like a winning lottery ticket, and therefore you are a target for cyber-crime. In many cases, hackers are not using ultra advanced technologies to break in and steal your information; rather, they are using very simple phishing methods such as spam emails and malware.
#4: “Cybersecurity only needs to be addressed as a problem once”.
Remember, cybersecurity is an ongoing process, not a one-time solution. The technology and cyber threat landscape continues to evolve at a rapid speed and firms need to keep up-to-date and adopt the latest advances and trends to combat growing cyber risk.
#5: “Anti-virus software will protect me and sort out the problem”.
Many firms believe that the anti-virus software they have installed on their PCs and/or smartphones can protect them from every type of attack. Anti-virus alone is not sufficient. Adding additional layers of cybersecurity, such as data backup and encryption, may be war- ranted to protect your data and guard against or create an alert when other types of attacks or intrusions occur. We, at Storm IT Financial, can’t emphasise enough that employee education, training, password management and access control are also essential and necessary layers of a comprehensive security strategy.
#6: “Even with a firewall, you are not safe from attacks”.
Never underestimate hackers. They understand strategies adopted by a firewall and can disrupt codes and exploit basic IT oversights to gain access to your system. Implementing and upgrading to next-generation firewall technology is clever and can add additional layers of protection against both internal and external cyber threats.
It’s important to remain informed and stay aware of cyber threats and have cybersecurity solutions in place regardless of the size and nature of your business.
For more information on Hedge Fund, Asset Management, Private Equity & Alternative Investment cyber security & firewall, data back- up, disaster recovery & failover advice, cloud & IT Services, feel free to contact Storm IT Financial.
Storm IT Financial FinTech News & Trends picks: Week 7th August – 11th August 2017
Thomson Reuters signs three more buy-side clients for KYC platform
Legal & General Investment Management, Candriam Investors Group & Fund Channel go live globally with Reuters (KYC) platform:
Fidelity partners Coinbase for digital asset tracking trial
Fidelity Investments, launches an experiment with digital assets with
Coinbase® wallet accounts:
MiFID II Transparency Puts Stress on Data Architecture
Buy-side firms are facing huge changes in disclosure and transparency requirements, which could upend their data management architectures:
https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/14388/mifid-ii-transparency-puts-stress-on-data-architecture
EY RegTech survey finds opportunities for asset managers
Asset Managers are embracing regulatory technologies (RegTech) to meet enhanced compliance obligations, according to new EY survey:
http://www.wealthadviser.co/2017/08/09/254879/ey-regtech-survey- finds-opportunities-asset-managers
Behind the hype: Machine learning in investment management
Big data: Costly, but is it useful?:
http://www.cityam.com/269983/behind-hype-machine-learning-investment-management
GDPR? Keep Calm and Think
The risks and potential sanctions that GDPR exposes organisations to are eye-wateringly attention-grabbing:
http://www.datamanagementreview.com/regulation-and-compliance/blog-entry/gdpr-keep-calm-and-think
One in every 359 emails are carrying a malicious payload says report
The number of emails carrying malware increased to a new high in July with one in every 359 emails carrying a malicious payload, according to Symantec’s July Intelligence Report:
GOLDMAN: ‘It’s getting harder for institutional inves- tors to ignore cryptocurrencies’
Goldman Sachs tells clients that the cryptocurrency space is “worth watching” after 2017 flurry of activity:
UK Gov: Firms could face £17M fine if cyber security is not up to scratch
UK Gov Dept has outlined the financial implications of failing to implement effective cyber security measures:
The next big thing; RegTech
RegTech is the next big thing in fintech globally….:
Assetz Capital releases Investment App
Assetz Capital launches financial app can offer option to manage investments peer-to-peer lending:
Regtech Supplier Performance Report: ignorance is no longer bliss, it’s now criminal offence
Ignorance just became a criminal offence:
http://www.bankingtech.com/941652/regtech-supplier-performance-report-ignorance-is-no-longer-
