Invotra Study: Cyber Threats Top Tech Fear for Finance, Public Sectors -

Sophisticated cyber threats represent the biggest technology fear for financial services and public sector organizations in 2018, according to a study of 504 senior IT managers conducted by intranet software company Invotra.

Eighty-five percent of financial services firms and 79 percent of public sector organizations ranked data and systems security as their top priority in 2018, according to the Invotra study. In addition, 94 percent of financial services firms and 88 percent of public sector organizations said they feel confident in their ability to defend against cyberattacks.

The study also indicated both financial services and public sector organizations are under intense scrutiny to protect their IT systems against rapidly evolving cyber threats, Invotra CEO Fintan Galvin said in a prepared statement. This pressure ultimately may lead many financial services and public sector organizations to consider "emerging technologies" to limit the impact of cyber threats, Galvin pointed out.

How Can Financial Services and Public Sector Orgs Address Cyberattacks?

MSSPs can deliver cybersecurity services to help financial services and public sector organizations address cyber threats. These services providers also can provide expert tips to help financial services and public sector organizations reduce the risk of cyberattacks.

There are many ways that MSSPs can help organizations across all industries minimize the risks associated with cyberattacks. For example, IBM X-Force recently offered the following recommendations to help organizations mitigate cybersecurity risks:

Provide cybersecurity training. Videos, webinars and in-person training sessions help foster cybersecurity awareness. Also, organizations can use simulations to teach employees about the immediate and long-term ramifications of cyberattacks and encourage workers to report any suspicious emails for further investigation.

Use cognitive technology. Employ security analysts who can review a wide range of structured and unstructured data to identify cyberattack patterns and trends. That way, organizations are better equipped than ever before to identify advanced cyber threats before they escalate.

Limit exposure to insider threats. Use a combination of data security and identity and access management (IAM) solutions. By doing so, organizations can simultaneously protect their sensitive information and govern user access to it, thereby reducing the risk of insider threats.

Keep up with threat intelligence. Threat intelligence is a vital part of risk awareness. Thus, organizations should augment their cybersecurity solutions with threat intelligence tools to optimize the value of cyberattack data.

MSSPs often enable organizations – regardless of industry – to improve their security posture at a fraction of the cost of in-house resources, IBM X-Force indicated. As such, MSSPs can provide crucial services and support to help organizations address sophisticated cyber threats both now and in the future.