Businesses prefer banks with clean cybersecurity history

88% of companies are willing to pay extra in order to work with a bank that has a strong security policy and a proven security track record, a new survey by Kaspersky Lab shows. Almost three thirds of the companies surveyed also stated they select banks due to their security reputation.

Banks today operate more like IT companies than financial institutions. #protectmybiz

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The survey shows that 94% of businesses are now using online banking in their day-to-day operations (it is a bit surprising that it isn’t 100%). Convenience is the primary factor here, as response times are improved and operational costs reduced. However, there are also safety reservations. These businesses now check the reputation of the bank they are going (or not going) to work with. The risk of a company falling victim to financial fraud is very real and immediate; besides, if cybercriminals manage to intercept transactions, they may also be able to acquire an entry point into the corporate infrastructure of the company. This is something that just shouldn’t happen.

And for banks it means a bit of an extra IT strain; most of the time the fraud incident isn’t the bank’s fault, but rather the consequence of end-users neglecting their own security and then expecting the banks to reimburse their losses.

On a global scale fraud costs banks literally billions, even dozens of billions per year. Single successful operations such as Carbanak may cost billions alone. And while operations of that scope are still few and far between, their numbers grow. Fraud appears to be lucrative enough for cyberfraudsters to stay extremely active and find new tricks to do their “business”.

Businesses prefer banks with “clean” #cybersecurity history

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This requires the appropriate countermeasures.

“In today’s technology driven environment, banks operate more like IT companies than financial institutions. All of their interactions with customers and partners are computerized and information is shared and stored online”, says Ross Hogan, Kaspersky Lab Global Head of Fraud Prevention. “However, despite the advantages it makes banking processes vulnerable and any compromise to the IT infrastructure can lead to huge data loss or, even worse, severe financial and reputational damage. It is therefore imperative that banks also think more like IT companies and make security a priority when developing and delivering their services.”

At its side Kaspersky Lab offers Kaspersky Fraud Prevention, a potent security solution that can help banks protect all of the components of their IT infrastructure. Mobile banking apps, which are more and more targeted by various Trojans, are a part of such infrastructure and KFP covers them as well.

Kaspersky Fraud Prevention for Endpoints, in turn, keeps customers and their machines fully protected from financial fraud, so they can bank easily and conveniently online without exposing themselves, or their provider, to risk.