In an industry dealing with sensitive personal and financial information, security is paramount for financial institutions (FIs). As modern consumers interact with their money in diverse ways, from online access to electronic transactions, there are numerous vulnerabilities that exist regardless of how much time and energy is put forth to prevent cyberattacks in the finance space. FIs need to strengthen their existing security posture with the increasingly brazen cyber attacks from individual criminals, nation states, and even terrorist organizations. To enhance security, the FIs must not only invest in technical measures but also share knowledge and best practices with each other, be proactive about educating employees regarding their responsibilities and the importance of following protocols, and reach out to the public to help them understand their role in securing their personal data. Moreover, most FIs today are incorporating emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, big data, cloud computing, and others to secure their businesses, remain competitive, and achieve favorable outcomes. However, the FIs, at times, lack in expertise to implement and manage such technologies. They require expert consultants to remove the worries of implementing technology, so they can focus on their business operations.
The financial security consultants can help FIs in implementing these technologies, where blockchain can remove the gatekeepers and third parties in the loans and credit system and eliminate manual data reconciliation for bank ledgers while cloud computing can secure online payments and transfers. With their deep financial services experience and broad knowledge of technology implementation, the financial security consultants and service providers can resolve any issue, ranging from risk and audit to financial compliance and regulations. The financial security service specialists play an instrumental role in enabling a company to achieve cost savings and improve service delivery. With hands-on experience, advanced skills, and deep relationships with diverse companies, these service providers accelerate the pace of detecting potential threats and stop them before they strike.
With various financial security services, such as governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC), security architecture consulting, and application security, the financial security service providers can create the right level of security that balances high-stake business requirements of the FIs. A host of new-age financial security service providers employ not only experts who have a strong understanding of the intricacies involved in the security of highly confidential information but also have strong knowledge of the best practices to work around the predicaments. They follow standard operating procedures and carry out due diligence to ensure the implemented technologies meet the necessary compliance and lead to secured business operations. They also focus on continuous training and education on the rising security threats and the need of technologies to remove any sort of vulnerability related to financial data breaches.
To help CIOs navigate the financial security consulting and service provider expanse, CFO Tech Outlook has narrowed the top 10 firms that exhibit competence in delivering efficient services and consultations.
We present to you CFO Tech Outlook’s “Top 10 Financial Security Consulting/Services Companies 2019.”
