Few industries have seen as much disruption as retail banking in recent years. Many once well-established banks are finding themselves under increasing pressure to modernize as more agile startups threaten to usurp them. Today, almost two thirds of US consumers rely on digital banking in some form, with mobile being a favorite channel. More conservative organizations are rapidly falling out of favor as consumers choose banks focused on delivering more convenient digital experiences.

 

These changing consumer habits are the driving force behind digital transformation trends in banking. Consumers now look to social media for updates on service status and instantaneous customer support. They’re using smartphones to pay for groceries at the local supermarket, and they’re using mobile authentication apps to safely enjoy all the benefits digital banking has to offer.

 

As with all new technology, these channels also come with security and reputational risks. However, choosing to ignore them cedes market share to more nimble competitors. Driving the adoption of digital channels can pose a monumental challenge for enterprise organizations, which tend to be more siloed. That’s why the only way to implement transformative digital technologies effectively is to coordinate between teams and break down the information silos that lead to widespread confusion over who’s responsible for security and brand reputation management.

More than ever, consumers are demanding rich omnichannel user experiences; ones that don’t force them to spend half an hour on the phone when they’ve forgotten their online banking credentials or use a desktop web browser to check their balances. Consumers are craving an ever-wider range of features and communication channels but, at the same time, security remains their number one concern. There’s a rock-solid reason for that too – banks are 300 times more likely to be targeted than businesses in other industries.⁸

 

Digital risk isn’t just restricted to cyberattacks. There are other factors, such as human error, failing technology, and accidental data loss to think about too. Here are some of the most common digital risks for today’s banks:

 

 

Both the transformative power and the risks associated with new digital technologies stem from the fact that these critical channels lie outside of network perimeter defenses. On social media, for example, it can be difficult for marketing-oriented community managers to recognize the signatures of spear-phishing or account take over attacks. Moreover, employees posting on their own social media accounts may be vulnerable to targeted social engineering attacks, threats that are completely invisible to the enterprise.

 

Even collaboration channels which are ostensibly for "internal" communications, like Slack or Yammer, present unique challenges. As cloud-based applications, malicious content or malware links remain difficult to mitigate for traditional network controls.

 

 

 

To mitigate these risks, administrators need to maintain complete visibility into digital assets like social media accounts, instant messages, and any other branded communications and properties. Furthermore, security teams need access to real-time threat intelligence. They require the ability to communicate and work with marketing and compliance teams quickly to coordinate remediation efforts. Alerts are not enough, security tools must be able to lock down accounts that are being misused, quarantine threats, and close compromised or impersonated accounts.

 

With a centralized monitoring and control system, security teams have real-time visibility into all information being posted online from owned channels such as social media profiles and instant messages. Instead of trying to secure information at the device-level, such a defense system extends perimeter defenses around cloud-based digital channels, enabling banks to protect critical information assets and business operations.

 

 

 

 

Traditionally, digital security has always been seen as something only IT departments have to worry about. However, given widespread use of digital channels throughout every department, it’s now safe to say that marketing and customer relationship teams are the new frontlines in brand defense. After all, it can take many years to build up a solid reputation, but mere seconds for just one malicious action to undo everything. The Marketing Accountability Standards Board has found that brand value contributes about 19% of enterprise value, research corroborated by the Forbes Marketing Accountability project.¹¹ Fake or fraudulent accounts that damage brand reputation can, therefore, have a measurable dollar impact on a company’s stock price or value.

 

Hackers routinely target banks using social media, which is what happened when criminals set up fake Twitter accounts to direct Bank of America customers to fraudulent websites designed to steal credentials back in 2015. Moreover, a recent North Korean operation leveraged a LinkedIn job posting to hook a developer working at Chile’s Redbanc ATM network.¹² With brand impersonations being one of the biggest threats to banking, CMOs must work more closely with CISOs as brand reputation risks and cyber threats are now intertwined.

 

By eliminating the widespread corporate confusion as to who is responsible for social media security, for example, banks can extend the culture of accountability to their marketing teams as well.

 

While CISOs may be responsible for selecting and implementing the right technological and administrative controls, CMOs must be responsible for ensuring that their teams communicate reputation risks, such as fake or imposter accounts, to security teams for remediation.

 

When one considers the sheer scale of digital communications in today’s enterprise environments, it’s easy to dismiss it as an impossible struggle at first. In the case of banking, it’s even more complicated, given the frequent disconnect between different lines of business such as retail banking, wealth management, and insurance. On top of that is the fact that many departments have a different set of procedures, tools, and channels. Add social media and instant messaging into the mix, and the margin for error increases exponentially. Fortunately, there’s a way to deal with the ever-increasing scale of digital in today’s banking environment. Armed with automation and real-time detection, administrators will be able to intercept threats and act immediately all while ensuring that their data-governance procedures stay in line with their compliance obligations. This starts with breaking down information silos and developing a team-based approach to address the following key steps: