Every other few weeks, we hear of an online attack targeting the big banks. It is easy to be mistaken to conclude that the criminals solely attack the big international banks. The truth of the matter is that the smaller banks are more at risk at being attacked by the criminals mainly because they don’t have the capacity to employ the robust cyber security that the larger banks have.
Banks are often the main target for cybercriminals. This is mainly because there is a lot of money held by these banks.
Online criminals are all over and they are looking for an easy target even if it means the target is a means to get to their final destination. The big banks have armies of cyber security experts who will easily detect and avert any intended attack. However, small banks such as community banks don’t have the necessary battalions of experts to keep off the online criminals. Since banking is a complex network which requires small and big banks to interact many times, the criminals will target the smaller banks to reach the big banks.
In other words, small banks are normally the weak link between the bigger banking network and the online criminals. It is for this reason that small banks need to focus more on their security. When the criminals target the smaller banks, they will definitely not overlook the money in it; they will steal it as well.
The role of every banking and financial body is critical especially when there are threats being unearthed every so often targeting the whole industry. According to Federal government, criminals are already looking into ways through which they can maim the large banks as well as the Federal banking systems. It is only a year ago when a Boston community bank was discovered to have been planted with a malicious malware. The interesting thing is that the malware was not meant for the bank but rather the fed payment system. According to bostonglobe.com, the criminals seem to be keener to try out this new strategy which for banks means that the risk of cyberheists has just skyrocketed.
Banks are often the main target for cybercriminals. This is mainly because there is a lot of money held by these banks. It would, therefore, be a big win for a criminal to successfully compromise the systems of a bank, no matter how small that bank is. There are many fronts which a bank can be attacked from. The actual bank’s systems or the authentication details of a staff member can be compromised. For a long time, these criminals have been using the personal details of customers to access the banks’ systems. Indeed, these criminals have been doing a lot of damage to many banks and banks’ customers given that all of these crimes are not reported to a central body.
The need for smaller banks to safeguard themselves is extremely important not only to keep off the thieves but to also avoid lawsuits. Customers, insurance companies, and even government agencies might end up suing the banks for failure to take reasonable steps to keep their systems reasonably safe for commercial purposes.
