Fergie's Tech Blog

Bank’s IT Security Vulnerability Growing

Nancy Feig writes on Bank Systems & Technology:

Improvements in overall security have been achieved in most industry sectors, but the financial services industry has seen an increase in the average number of IT vulnerabilities, according to London-based NTA Monitor's 2007 Annual Security Report. The study analyzed vulnerability tests conducted on a variety of U.K. companies, including financial services firms.

While the number of vulnerabilities that could have enabled hackers to gain access or disrupt service has almost halved for all organizations, the average number of risks for financial institutions increased by 16 percent from the previous year, the report found. "Flaws that our testing discovered could permit hackers to gain entry to corporate networks and change users' passwords or delete files, which could wreak corporate havoc," said Roy Hills, technical director at NTA Monitor, in a release announcing the findings.

Experts suggest that banks tend to be more vulnerable to fraud and theft because they are balancing the dual demands of providing user-friendly Internet banking capabilities and securing their customers' data. Hackers also are more likely to target financial institutions because that's where the money is.

posted by Fergie @ 8/06/2007 09:28:00 AM