Migrating banks’ old technology to cloud computing systems is creating a cyber security nightmare for their IT and risk teams, experts have warned.
Cloud infrastructure — which enables software and data to be held off-site and accessed by any part of an organisation, in any location — is helping the world’s banks develop digital services with greater ease and speed.
But experts warn that cloud adoption can also be highly risky for banks and financial groups, because cyber criminals are increasingly exploiting security “holes” and misconfigured settings in cloud platforms to steal data, defraud customers and disrupt operations.
With so much sensitive financial and personal information stored in the cloud, as digital banking has become widely adopted, data breaches have become a leading concern for financial groups, says Simon Crocker, senior director of systems engineering for western Europe at cyber security company Palo Alto Networks.
Cyber criminals’ approach is to access data by identifying vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in the cloud services used by banks, he explains. But the damage does not stop there; criminals can also take over customer accounts,…
