There is no question that IT and cloud security is critical to financial institutions. While many organizations look to the public cloud for its affordability, scalability and flexibility, it might not meet the stringent requirements for banking cloud security.
The Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) found that the financial sector continues to be a target for threat actors due to both the types of data it collects from customers and the potential for ill gotten financial gain. The 2022 DBIR is set to be released this May.
Any enterprise, and especially financial institutions, want to scale up computing resources cost-effectively while maintaining robust cyber security in banking applications. With web application attacks a leading cause of data breaches, it would seem to make sense for financial institutions to build their own private clouds so they can better control the deployment and management of their cloud security strategies.
Compliance drives banking cloud security
Although it is not obvious to most people, in the public cloud, security is a shared responsibility between the provider and the customer. The fuzzy demarcation and unclear responsibilities for each party can put banking cloud security at risk. The private cloud is a viable alternative to public clouds because it is a computing environment dedicated to a single business entity, with cloud resources either hosted on physical infrastructure in the organization's on-premises facilities or in a co-location vendor's data center. A private cloud offers more security and control for managing and configuring computing needs dedicated to a single organization.
The enhanced degree of control a private cloud offers allows for a level of banking cloud security that meets regulatory compliance and reporting requirements, such as the Bank Holding Company Act, which governs the activities of bank holding companies, their subsidiaries and affiliates.
Taking a private cloud security strategy incorporates all the elements of a traditional approach to security while making several key components non-negotiable, including a network with a clearly and fully defined perimeter. The broader infrastructure of a private cloud also supports cyber security in banking, including hardware lifecycle management, environmental controls, the data center facility's physical security and all network devices. Banking cloud security is dependent on availability, reliability and software. Software should undergo vulnerability scans and penetration testing, whether it is commercial software or an application developed in-house.
Understanding where data resides and how it's used is critical to banking cloud security. Looking at data separately from applications also bolsters cyber security in banking; it helps build a data protection strategy that includes classifications so data can be given the proper level of security by separating it into zones.
Cyber security in banking adds complexity to the private cloud
The demands of cyber security in banking mean a private cloud requires a certain amount of internal expertise and clear strategy.
Building a service catalog can clarify what your IT team is delivering to the business, the cost and what the operational goals are, including banking services delivery to end user customers through multiple channels like mobile. Automation is an imperative and a benefit of a private cloud and can help with application deployment, normalizing the provisioning process and further bolstering banking cloud security.
Building a private cloud can be a complicated undertaking, due to cost calculations and resource forecasting, as well as the need for integration with other systems, including possibly the public cloud. Most of all, building a private cloud takes time, especially as you look at what services and applications need to be migrated. It is important to use an integration partner who understands cyber security in banking and can help you build and maintain a private cloud with a robust security strategy that can be maintained and measured over time.
The author of this content is a paid contributor for Verizon.