Sepio's message to the financial services sector is bolstered by an updated Congressional Research Service report

In light of recent data breaches, updated whitepaper highlights the need for financial services companies to beef up their cybersecurity efforts to protect organizational operations and reputations and retain customers.

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- An updated report by the Congressional Research Service bolsters Sepio's position that the financial services market is at especially grave risk for cyber attacks. As the innovator of the physical layer-based asset risk management solution, ensuring customers can see, assess and mitigate the risks of all known and shadow IT assets at any scale, Sepio is responding to the January 5, 2023 report – updated from an earlier whitepaper released on  January 5, 2011 – by emphasizing how important it is for financial organizations to achieve complete asset visibility to secure all assets on a network and achieve regulatory compliance. Asset visibility is an incredibly vital component of cybersecurity; the number of devices on networks has grown exponentially in the digital era and will continue to do so in the coming years introducing more threats to organizations. Sepio's internal research predicts an increase of 39% in assets with a high-risk factor next year alone.

In addition to highlighting that recent data breaches have increased concerns about the privacy and security of consumer financial information at major financial institutions, the report states that the per-company cost of cybercrime (over $18 million) is 40% higher in the financial sector than in other industries. It cites a 2019 breach at First American Financial, a 2022 incident at Experian and how in 2022, a Block employee leaked 8 million customers' data. Also, according to the report, 25% of malware attacks target financial services companies, further exacerbating security risks.

"As the Congressional Research Service report indicates, cybersecurity breaches in the financial industry are not only costly, but they pose both operational and reputational risks for organizations," said Bentsi Ben-Atar, CMO and co-founder of Sepio. "The breaches that befall these organizations can incapacitate a business and force customers to go elsewhere to ensure their proprietary data is protected. For organizations to keep operations running smoothly, their reputations intact and retain their customers, it is essential to prioritize asset visibility and risk management. By deploying Sepio's solution, these companies can see all assets in an organization, known and unknown, wherever they are, whoever installed them and however they are or are not being used."

As network access controls (NACs) and passive network probing tools rely primarily on traffic monitoring, these cybersecurity solutions detect devices based on their activity rather than their existence. This presents an increasing challenge to organizations that have had to keep up with a growing number of assets and remote payment solutions from unknown devices since the pandemic. To eliminate the blind spots, Sepio's Asset Risk Management platform is based on physical layer data, which does not require traffic monitoring. The solution detects devices based on their existence, providing ultimate visibility so all known and unknown assets, active or not in use, can be seen.

The report points out that "if the entire system fails to adequately address cybersecurity concerns, this could lead to systemic risk— the risk that a cybersecurity incident would destabilize the financial system. For example, in a highly interconnected financial system, a cybersecurity incident at one of the major banks or payment networks could adversely affect operations at many other financial institutions."

"This is something we want to help financial institutions avoid," added Ben-Atar. "As the report highlights, ever since COVID, the reliance on remote devices and technologies has increased, and organizations must ensure that all their technologies are entirely secure. I always say that you cannot secure what you cannot see, which is why asset visibility for asset risk management is key to the financial services sector. Furthermore, due to how heavily regulated this industry is, any breach of policy can have serious ramifications and result in significant reputational damage due to highly publicized incidents."

About Sepio
Sepio provides the first hardware asset risk management platform based on device existence. The company's solution offers customers actionable visibility, policy enforcement and mitigation capabilities, allowing them to manage their assets' risk. The solution does not require any traffic or activity monitoring – and as such is use case and device agnostic, whether it is IT/OT/IoT or IoMT. If an asset connects to your infrastructure, Sepio will report it. At any scale, within less than 24 hours, you can see, assess, and mitigate your assets' risks and strengthen your cybersecurity posture.

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SOURCE Sepio