Every year, the news reports on how vulnerable financial institutions are to hackers.
In the banking and fintech industry, companies collect a magnitude of customer PII, making them ripe targets for hackers. There are other ways for hackers to access a customer's PII, but targeting financial institutions, is the quickest way for them to access this valuable data.
In 2022, it was reported that the financial sector experienced the second-highest number of industry data breaches. U.S. banks were hit hardest, with 79 U.S. financial services companies reporting data breaches, followed by financial institutions in Argentina, Brazil, and China.
Here are some of the most significant data breaches impacting financial institutions in 2022.
Top 10 Fintech Data Breaches of 2022
TransUnion - 5 million customers
One of '22s most significant data leaks, TransUnion South Africa, suffered a breach that was later exposed by the threat actor "because the company guarded one of its systems with the password 'password'."
Receivables Performance Management - 3.7 million customers
Elephant Insurance Services - 2.7 million consumers
Lakeview Loan Servicing - 2.5 million customers
Flagstar Bank -1.5 million customers
Boeing Employees' Credit Union - 340,000 consumers
First Financial Credit Union - 220,000 consumers
Cash Express - 100,000 consumers
LendingTree - 70,000 customers
Revolut - 50,000 customers
If the banking and fintech industry understands this enormous threat, why does it keep happening?
Why are financial institutions the top cybercriminal target?
#1 Big Pay Off!
It's no coincidence that cybercriminals disproportionately target financial services. Their motivation is apparent.
Financial institutions control and manage multitudes of valuable data, and with a plethora of monetary and data assets, they are the optimal prey.
Cybercriminals have also realized that financial institutions are trying to meet the customers' needs for digital experience, making them better targets, and maximizing their odds of success.
#2 Digital Banking Expansion
Customers demand engaging digital experiences, and banks are utilizing technology to meet the challenges of the digital economy and customer expectations. However, these new technologies ease the cybercriminal's ability to capitalize on vulnerabilities.
#3 Securing Digital Data Is Problematic
Securing digital data requires constant monitoring to keep up with the evolution of the digital landscape & systems.
Sourcing the right IT team members to monitor and manage this data security requires constant training, testing, and continuing education on new and evolving threats.
How Can the Financial Industry Stop Cyberattacks?
No industry is without vulnerabilities, but cyberattacks frequently target banks and financial service organizations because of the monetary and PII they control. Ensuring that security investments are targeted in the right areas and that staff is trained appropriately to monitor and manage threats will help financial service organizations better weather the hacker storm. The banking and financial services industry must implement cyber hygiene measures and security best practices like zero trust & MFA.
Voice biometric authentication is the ideal option to integrate an MFA and a zero-trust environment.
Voice biometric tech tops Forbes' list of the most reliable authentication technologies regarding strength and accuracy, which is already in use in leading enterprise sectors. The best part of implementing V2's voice biometrics into your existing system(s) is that it is simple; there is no additional hardware to buy since the customer or employee utilizes their mobile device to authenticate.
Simple, Secure Voice authentication is V2verify's forte.
V2verify's Voice authentication is the most simple & secure way to authenticate a user. It's impossible to fake; it's quick and easy, with the user authenticated with only 2 seconds of natural speech & all you need is a smartphone.