Financial services sector most prone to cyber crime: KPMG survey

Mumbai: Cyber crime continues to remain a tough challenge for organisations. Over the past few years, the global cyber crime landscape has changed dramatically, with criminals employing more sophisticated technology and greater knowledge of cyber security.

As cyber criminals continue to develop and advance their techniques, they are also shifting their targets focussing less on theft of financial information and more on business espionage and accessing government information, according to KPMG India which conducted a survey called_Cybercrime Survey 2014_ .

“With rise in the cybercrime, businesses are increasingly facing impacts not only on the financial front but also irreversible damage to their brands and market reputations. As a result of this growing threat, there is a significant need for corporates to recognize cyber threats and craft cyber response plans,” Mritunjay Kapur, Partner and Head of Risk Consulting practice, KPMG India said.

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Over 170 participants who hold designations like CIOs, CISOs from across India participated in the survey. Cyber crime has emerged as a major threat as acknowledged by an overwhelming 89 percent of the survey respondents.

About 51 percent perceive themselves to be an easy target for cyber-attacks due to the nature of their business. Out of these 51 percent, about 68 percent respondents claim that they monitor their cyber crime threats on a daily basis.

Although 37 percent of the respondents feel risk of cyber attacks comes from an external source, it is imperative that organisations keep a track of insiders with malicious intent or professional intruders constantly seeking access to sensitive information.

The survey also highlights key sectors prone to cyber attacks. A staggering 58 per cent of the survey respondents perceive financial services sector as more likely to be prone to cybercrime, whereas 11 percent feel communications, entertainment and infrastructure sectors are prone too.

In the financial sector, the value to the attacker would be internet banking and brokerage. Phishing attacks on online banking accounts or cloning of ATM / Debit cards are common occurrences. The increasing use of mobiles for online banking & financial transactions has also increased vulnerabilities to a great extent.

According to the survey, the root cause of most cyber-attacks is monetary gain. Until recently, malware, spam emails, hacking into corporate sites and other attacks of this nature were mostly the work of computer ‘geniuses’ showcasing their talent. These attacks, which were rarely malicious, have gradually evolved into cybercrime syndicates siphoning off money through illegal cyber channels. Cyber-attackers can be classified based on various aspects such as their qualifications, skill levels, age group and motivations.

Inadequate detection processes may conceal the real number of cybercrime attacks. Although many organisations today are equipped with state of the art security systems, they may still be unable to manage.

The first line of defence against any cyber threat is increasing perception and awareness of cybercrimes, suggests the report.

“In the current age of digitization, organizations are heavily dependent on cyber technology. With geographic boundaries being collapsed in this digital era, organizations are facing threats from the virtual world wherein crimes are perpetrated by cyber criminals who leveraging on evolved eco systems like the Dark Net,” Sandeep Gupta, Partner-Forensic Technology, KPMG India, said.

Organisations could gain improved value and security by adopting a preventive approach to tackling cybercrime related risks. Adopting a preventive approach towards cybercrime risk management, however, requires a cultural shift that starts with board level executives who can incorporate cybercrime related risks into the enterprise risk strategy. By doing so, leaders can quickly start to identify gaps in the current cybercrime risk management strategy and encourage an organization-wide approach to countering cyber threats.