Secure remote access—Third parties and the finance industry

Rapidly developing technology means consumers in the finance industry look for fast, personalized service. These new opportunities drive business development—but they also drive the risk of data loss and non-compliance. In late 2017, consumer credit agency and data aggregator, Equifax, revealed a severe data loss caused by sloppy security measures. The hack led to the loss of sensitive information of more than 145 million people. Even visiting the site after the breach was revealed was a risk. A third-party vendor used by Equifax to collect performance data on the website was hacked “to serve malicious content.” By March of this year, Equifax increased its estimate of the number of people impacted by data loss to almost 148 million. Equifax faces multiple legal actions, extensive reputational damage, and an uncertain future with regulatory agencies. Undiscovered for several months, Equifax failed to update its enterprise platform, allowing hackers to exploit a known vulnerability. The protection of sensitive financial data is critical for banks, credit unions, investment interests, and others in regulated industries. Because personal financial and investment information is of high value to bad actors, financial IT vendors need access to your network to address ongoing threat risk and ensure compliance and institutional accountability.

Secure remote access reduces the risk of data breaches and data loss

Traditional finance is being disrupted by newcomers that offer high-level, rapid financial services. To remain economically competitive, the finance industry must continuously adapt their technology to offer new services—and remain compliant. To do that, financial IT needs access to networks to stay ahead of threats and ensure a fluid working environment. Staying competitive and compliant is possible through the use of a secure remote access platform. The features of your platform should include:

• The ability to manage access, privileged and otherwise, for multiple vendors on your network
• The ability to create a standard remote support policy across all of your vendor partnerships
• Use of two-factor authentication and access practices that eliminate the use of untracked credentials sharing
• The ability to create a granular audit trail to understand in real-time, and via recording, information such as who was on your network, what files were accessed, and what work was accomplished
• Compliant maintenance of Sarbanes-Oxley and Gramm-Leach-Bliley IT regulations

The risk of data loss and non-compliance increases with the adoption of new technology or experimentation with new consumer services. A platform that delivers secure remote access helps you remain competitive without risking the liability and other damage of a devastating data breach. Find out more about ensuring compliance in regulated industries by downloading an informative whitepaper from Imprivata.