Financial theft is not a recent issue. History is filled with famous bank robbers, embezzlers, and con artists. In earlier times, a robbery or scam usually targeted one bank or company, but in today’s digital age, financial crime and identity theft are greater than Bonnie and Clyde could have dreamed. Nowadays, the harm from cyber crime is extensive and severe, affecting tens of thousands of customers and costing companies an average of $5.9 million in 2014. [1]
Financial service organizations are addressing the growing threat by aggressively exploring and continuously improving identity data security avenues. But there is a lot involved with staying ahead of cyber criminals, and many factors make it complicated. [2]
Identity data theft is increasing just as customers want more convenience with mobile and online services, covering everything from daily banking to loan applications and stock purchases—all of which depend on access to customer identity information. Therefore, financial institutions cannot simply restrict data access. To enhance customer experience and provide the services people want, businesses must implement the highest security standards while also ensuring real-time data access for hundreds of millions of customers across a growing array of devices.
As if this did not make the situation complex enough, financial institutions must factor in evolving payment security standards, such as Payment Card Industry (PCI) regulations and legislation that can vary by region. They need systems that can demonstrate compliance in the event of an audit, and most businesses want to surpass current regulations to earn customers’ trust and do as much as they can to avoid the devastating impact of a data breach.
However, protecting data from external threats is simply not enough. Most breaches are the result of an internal vulnerability or an employee gaining unauthorized access to data. Consequently, businesses need to fight the battle on two fronts, internal as well as external.
Many of these factors seem to create opposing demands, but customer identity and preference management is coming to the forefront as a solution that can address these different requirements. It provides a single customer view and enables IT teams to consistently apply fine-grained security controls to the data no matter how or where it is used. It also captures customers’ privacy choices so that consumers have some control over their own data. And organizations can control the data to which employees have access based on policies, customer preference and how relevant the data is to the employee’s role.
Customer identity and preference management allows financial service organizations to apply best data security practices while leveraging data across a wide range of digital apps. They can enhance customer experience and grow the brand. After all, making the Internet safer for financial transactions moves digital business forward to the benefit of businesses and consumers.
1. 2014 Cost of Data Breach Study, Ponemon Institute
2. Trends in Financial Data Security, Protected Trust
Discover how a financial services customer modernized their identity and preference management platform to unify identity data from more than 9,000 data sub-branches, increase security, and reduce operational costs!
This article was originally published on the UnboundID Blog.