Almost from the outset of the pandemic, financial services organizations found themselves near the top of hackers’ hit lists. And, at least in a few crucial respects, it’s not so hard to see why. Reams of personal and financial data. Intimate institutional connections, often to much larger fish in the ecosystem. Comparatively immature IT infrastructures. Limited overall threat awareness. From the other end of the periscope, we must have looked like sitting ducks.
The good news is the extent to which that narrative is no longer true. The range of responses from financial services companies of all kinds, and the swiftness with which many have made changes to bolster both IT and accounting practices in the name of security, has been truly awe-inspiring to watch. But there’s still a lot of work to be done.
In this blog, I want to first briefly recap the latest cybersecurity numbers for financial services organizations and CPA firms specifically. Next, having effectively set the stage, I’ll call out a set of evolving competencies that should be top of mind for finance firms, and walk through a few ways for finance pros to action them today.
Take a — Gulp! — Good Look at the…
