Travelex Security Incident

Malware & Ransomware Protection How Ransomware Can Destroy Compliance for Financial Services Written by: Anne Gotay 5 min read Cybercriminals have focused on the Financial Services industry as a prime target for attack. They are leveraging ransomware as a weapon of choice due to it being low-effort and yielding significant results. This is why according to Sophos, there was a 51% increase in ransomware attacks against financial institutions in 2021. Financial services organizations are particularly vulnerable due to the vast amount of sensitive data they manage, making them lucrative targets for cybercriminals. Research indicates that financial services organizations experience 300 times more cyber incidents than other industries, emphasizing the importance of stringent cybersecurity measures. High-profile attacks, such as the 2019 Travelex attack, demonstrate the potentially disastrous consequences of ransomware in this sector. This blog explores how ransomware can impact the compliance posture of financial organizations and defend against this growing threat. Ransomware Attacks on Financial Services Organizations Understanding the method of attack is a crucial first step in defending against it. In the case of ransomware, it is a special variety of malware meant to extort money from victims. It encrypts files and data, preventing users from accessing it until a ransom is paid to attackers. As attackers got greedy, they created evolved variants of ransomware that go beyond encryption to steal data or open backdoors for attackers to do the same. This opens the door to more complex extortion attacks and leads to compliance issues. Financial service organizations are prime targets for these attacks based on the valuable and sensitive data that they handle. When targeted by ransomware, they face the cost of the ransomware and additional financial losses and reputational damage. This is further complicated by the regulatory guidelines governments and industry...

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