Amid the rising number of security threats and cyberattacks worldwide, a cyber security firm has recently promised to build rock-solid cyber defenses for the Philippine banking sector as more and more Filipinos prepare to embrace digitalization in the coming years.
BlueVoyant, the world’s leading integrated, end-to-end cyber defense platform, has just made its way to the Philippines. The New York-based company was established in 2017 and now has a growing presence in London, Budapest, Maryland, Toronto, Bogota, Melbourne, Tel Aviv, and Singapore.
Arlene Asuncion, country manager of BlueVoyant Philippines, said that the company’s top executives have met with potential clients in the country, particularly banks and financial technology (fintech) companies, in an effort to expand its presence in Asia and offer their world-class, corporate cyber defense capabilities to more businesses of all sizes in the country.
“We are trying because that is our number one priority. (We are talking with) financial institutions, not only to banks but also to fintech companies,” Asuncion explained.
Asuncion further said that the company’s expansion in the Philippines in 2019 is critical to the company’s global operations.
In October 2019, BlueVoyant opened its regional headquarters in the country and has started working with Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), as well as its diversified conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures, and its banking arm Union Bank of the Philippines.
For her part, Brendan Conlon, the vice chairman at BlueVoyant, said in a statement that companies in the Philippines should efficiently invest in the right cybersecurity technologies.
“You need to be able to protect your clients, you need to be able to protect their information. You should not allow their information to get out and then also the money. So you are protecting your brand, you are protecting your business, and you are protecting your clients,” Conlon said.
As part of its service capabilities, BlueVoyant can quickly take down fake websites capable of stealing the usernames and passwords of bank clients.
“From a client standpoint, I would say banking is probably the number one that we target. We have the ability to look for fake websites that are being put up by threat actors, which is one of the primary ways how cyber terrorists are able to steal money from banking clients,” she explained.
“That is something that is absolutely critical to any sort of cybersecurity, and that is just the baseline. So a bank needs to implement that quickly. And if there is any group that is working with a bank, they need to implement that correctly. The second thing would really be to identify what things need to be monitored, and then monitor things in real-time,” Conlon added.
While Philippine banks have invested heavily over the years to enhance their cyber defenses, Conlon said that the industry can do better by implementing stricter controls like multi-factor authentication.
Rising cybersecurity threats worldwide
The banking industry manages sensitive data such as credit card numbers, personal information, and the like. For this reason, the banking sector is usually prone to cybersecurity risks like malware, insider threat, ransomware, and social engineering attacks. Without proper cybersecurity measures in place, these risks could lead to loss of data and identity theft.
Malware is a malicious type of software designed to harm or exploit a device, service, or network. Most of the time, it is used by cybercriminals for financial gain. An insider threat, meanwhile, is equally dangerous since the attackers have direct access to an organization’s computer system and network which can easily be abused. If left undetected, this can lead to financial losses or loss of reputation for a company.
Ransomware is a kind of malware that’s been designed to deny a user or organization access to files on their computer. By encrypting the files and demanding ransom payment for the key, cyberattackers place organizations in a position where paying the ransom is the easiest and cheapest way to regain access to their files.
Finally, social engineering is a term used to describe malicious activities done through human interaction. It manipulates people with the goal of making them give up confidential information or allow access to a network. One of the most common types of social engineering attacks is phishing.
A new survey of IT professionals showed that 66 percent of companies experienced ransomware attacks in 2021. Today, large-scale data breaches also continue unabated across all industry sectors.
With the concerning increase of cyberattacks amid the cybersecurity talent shortage, more than two-thirds of companies worldwide struggle to monitor and properly respond to vulnerabilities and incidents.