Data protection  

How to secure your data and your business

  • Understand the current cybersecurity threat for financial advice firms
  • Describe the common forms of cyberattack
  • Identify how to keep your systems secure
CPD
Approx.30min

For some clients, you may need to go through the log-on procedure several times until it becomes repeatable and they are comfortable doing it, but it is worth the effort to protect their data and your systems. 

We do listen to these concerns though. We understand the need to provide strong security without making it impossible for authorised users to gain access.

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At Intelliflo, we are moving to a passwordless solution internally, where single sign-on security is tied to a specific device alongside the biometric verification or a pin, and we plan to roll it out across all our technology in time.

4. Use technology to filter out scams. 

According to BCS, phishing scams, which are emails attempting to upload malware to your systems or obtain sensitive information, are the second most common form of cyber attack.

Installing an email filter will weed out many of these scams before they hit your inbox – Microsoft scans 400bn emails for malware and phishing scams through Office 365 and Outlook each month. 

We also spend a lot of time working on detecting malicious activity and continually building new detection capabilities.

We are currently rolling out cyber security technology CloudStrike to protect our solutions and best support you from bad actors.

5. Train your employees regularly.

Your staff are another important line of defence when it comes to cyber threats, so involve your team in building security procedures to ensure that they will work in real situations.

Regular training is also essential to raise awareness of potential issues, reinforce good practice and identify poor behaviours. 

6. Encourage a ‘no blame’ response.

It is important to recognise that cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated and harder to identify all the time and no one is infallible.

You need to create clear reporting procedures and encourage staff to escalate incidents swiftly, and without blame, so that issues can be dealt with quickly if something does slip through.

The last thing you want is for someone to hide a problem because they are scared of the consequences of reporting it. 

7. Back up your data.

Always back up your data, so if you do fall victim to a cyber attack you will be able to restore your information quickly.

Using a cloud storage provider is now relatively cheap and offers you 24/7 access to information from any location, plus you will benefit from the significant investment these services make in their own security to identify suspicious activity before it reaches you. 

8. Secure your supply chain.

BSC statistics highlight vulnerabilities in third-party software as responsible for 13 per cent of cyber attacks.