Financial sector leaders are embracing cloud technologies to save costs, support real-time analysis, and offer more personalized customer experiences. But for all the advancements the cloud enables, it presents challenges for those that must meet the stringent data security requirements imposed on the financial services industry.
Cybersecurity and compliance concerns have long been barriers to cloud adoption. Fortunately, cloud providers are acutely aware of these challenges. In fact, providers can play a significant role in the mitigation of cybersecurity and compliance challenges. Many have invested heavily in the security of their cloud infrastructure to design multilayered strategies that meet the requirements of numerous compliance certifications, regulations, and frameworks — including those that govern financial services. And they’ve done so at a scale and level of expertise rarely achievable by the average company.
Cloud providers also offer security controls, user authentication, encryption, monitoring, automated compliance checks, custom compliance reports, and other technologies that you can embed into your cloud operations. These native technologies can help you better manage the security of your data and applications — and integrate with your existing technology investments.
So, while the cloud does pose technical challenges to cybersecurity and compliance, it also offers solutions to combat those challenges. By wholly embracing the many tools the cloud offers, your organization doesn’t have to choose between compliance and the benefits of cloud computing — it can have both.
Cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), work to protect servers and cloud services from inappropriate logins, DDoS attacks, and other threats. But achieving a secure and compliant cloud environment is a shared responsibility that requires the commitment of both parties.
On your end, the commitment to a secure and compliant cloud environment requires the collaboration of departments across your organization — and those of your associates. Not only does the effort to achieve compliance impact every area of the organization, so does the
failure to do so, which can result in loss of reputation, loss of revenue, and steep fines levied by regulatory bodies like the FDIC, FTC, or SEC.
With stakes this high, it’s imperative that you develop a comprehensive strategy that addresses your organization’s unique environment. You don’t have to go it alone. A cloud security partner like Arctic Wolf can help you design, implement, and maintain a winning security strategy.
To that end, we’ve outlined a few common challenges financial services firms must address as their cloud security and compliance strategies take shape. Discover them in Financial Data and the Cloud, an Arctic Wolf compliance guide.
