Finance Monthly October 2019 Edition

8 www.finance-monthly.com NEWS - MONTHLY ROUND-UP THE MONTHLY ROUND-UP OVER 50% OF INCIDENT RESPONSE REQUESTS OCCUR AFTER CYBERATTACK HAS ALREADY DONE DAMAGE Around 56% of Incident Re- sponse (IR) requests pro- cessed by Kaspersky security experts in 2018 happened af- ter the affected organisation experienced an attack that had visible consequences such as unauthorised money transfers, workstations en- crypted by ransomware and service unavailability. 44% of requests were pro- cessed after detection of an attack during an early stage, saving the client from poten- tially severe consequences. These are among the main findings of Kaspersky’s latest Incident Response Analytics Report. It is often assumed that inci- dent response is only needed in cases when damage from a cyberattack has already occurred and there is a need for further investigation. How- ever, analysis of multiple in- cident response cases which Kaspersky security specialists participated in during the 2018 shows that this offering can not only serve as investigative but also as a tool for catch- just the beginning of a larger, invisible, malicious operation in the network and external specialists are needed. As a result of incorrect assessment, malicious activity evolves into a serious cyberattack with real consequences. In 2018, 26% of investigated “late” cases were caused by infec- tion with encryption malware, while 11% of attacks resulted in monetary theft.19% of “late” cases were a result of detect- ing spam from a corporate email account, detection of service unavailability or detec- tion of a successful breach. ing an attack during an earlier stage to prevent damage. In 2018, 22% of IR cases were initiated after detection of potential malicious activity in the network, and an addi- tional 22% were initiated after a malicious file was found in the network. Without any other signs of a breach, both cases may suggest that there is an ongoing attack. However, not every corporate security team may be able to tell if automat- ed security tools have already detected and stopped mali- cious activity, or these were Additional findings of the re- port include: • 81% of organisations that provided data for analysis were found to have indicators of malicious activity in their in- ternal network. • 34% organisations exhib- ited signs of an advanced tar- geted attack. • 54.2% of financial organi- sations were found to be at- tacked by an advanced per- sistent threat (APT) group or groups. 2/3RDS OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS PREPARED FOR A NO DEAL-BREXIT Senior leaders within finan- cial institutions have become less optimistic about the pros- pects for their own sector as the outlook for the domestic economy deteriorates, ac- cording to a new report from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. The Financial Institutions Sentiment Survey, now in its fourth year, canvassed the views of more than 100 senior decision-makers at a broad range of organisa- tions – from global banks and insurers to intermediaries, in- vestors and asset managers – to explore the key themes shaping their sector. The report found that more than half of firms (58%) are expecting growth in the UK economy to slow down in the next 12 months – twice as many as held that view in 2018 (29%). Two-thirds of them (67%) expect domestic growth in the coming year to be weaker than G7 peers. These views were broadly mirrored in respondents’ ex- pectations for the UK finan- cial services sector with 55% forecasting that growth would deteriorate during the year ahead, up from 27% in 2018. Similarly, most senior execu- tives (54%) said they have become less optimistic about the future of their industry in the past 12 months, up from 40% in 2018. Meanwhile, two-fifths of firms (40%) expect their own rev- enues to increase – albeit down from 64% last year – with only 17% seeing income falling next year. More than half of firms feel they are prepared for the UK’s departure from the EU, with 59% stating they are ready for a ‘no deal’ Brexit with little or no dependency on a transition period and no further extension. The remainder of firms sur- veyed are dependent to some extent on a transition period to complete their contingency planning, with almost a third (29%) saying that they have a limited dependency and 12% saying that they have a sig- nificant dependency. Despite the focus these preparations require, the sector continues to invest in the UK, with a third (31%) expecting investment to increase during the year ahead (compared to 24% in 2018). Only 10% of re- spondents forecast a reduc- tion in investment in their UK business over the next 12 months.