Three steps to unlocking value in fintech cybersecurity | Venture Capital

In our latest digest of Accenture's reporting on cybersecurity, we consider the learnings from its Ninth Annual Cost of Cybercrime

In a recent article in the April edition of FinTech magazine, we considered what the cybersecurity threat landscape for fintechs and the financial services sector would look like in 2020.

This was based on reporting by Accenture and its 2019 Ninth Annual Cost of Cybercrime report, which found that financial services incurred the highest cybercrime costs among all industries in 2018.

Accenture found several key drivers for this increased threat level, including: evolving targets, evolving impact of the crime and evolving techniques of the cyber criminals.

Ninth Annual Cost of Cybercrime

Accenture’s report considered many industries and sectors worldwide, including banking.

It said that: "As industries evolve and disrupt the current environment, threats are dramatically expanding while becoming more complex. This requires more security innovation to protect company ecosystems. The subsequent cost to our organisations and economies is substantial - and growing.”

It found that:

Banking had the highest average annual cost of cybercrime by industry in 2018, at $18.37mn.
The average number of security breaches rose in 2018 to 145, representing an 11% increase over the previous year and a 65% increase over the previous five years.
Globally in those industries surveyed, the annual cost of cybercrime rose by 12% to $13.0mn in 2018, up from $11.7mn in 2017.
The time required to resolve the average cybersecurity incident has increased dramatically - malware by 89%, denial of service by 65% and social engineering attacks by 22%.
The frequency of some attacks has increased. Web-based attacks, for example, have increased by 8% while malware, botnet and ransomware attacks have also been more regular.

Accenture’s three steps to unlocking value in cybersecurity

In a separate post about the report, Accenture set out some of the key recommendations following the results of its research. There are:

Prioritise the protection of people-based assets: countering internal threats such as malicious insiders, and a rise in phishing and ransomware attacks
Invest so as to limit business disruption and information loss: this is becoming an increasing concern for businesses worldwide as a result of GDPR and CCPA regulations
Implement technologies that reduce rising costs: this includes automation, security intelligence and advanced analytics to manage the increasing costs of discovering attacks.

Read more from Accenture here.

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For more information on all topics for FinTech, please take a look at the latest edition of FinTech magazine.

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