First-time parents trying to finally find a place to call their own, young Millennials looking to make their first big investment or grandparents wanting to finally relax after working hard for years — all these people are entrusting you with their personal data.
Don’t take this responsibility lightly.
If you’re looking at your information security team right now and thinking, “That’s okay, I've got my bases covered,” you don’t.
As fast as the digital world is growing, so are the number of hackers trying to take it down. The threat is exponentially rising, not decreasing. And if the people and families behind the information your company is storing isn’t enough motivation to get serious, the lost revenue should be. Trillions of dollars are lost from cyber crimes every year due to the tens of millions of breaches and attacks that happen every year.
The odds are in your favor.
When asked what the top misconceptions companies have when it comes to cybersecurity, Debbie Hoffman and Hope Collis, both with Digital Risk, listed the following:
1. Cybersecurity is an IT concern.
Cybersecurity is a companywide issue that should be handled from the top down, starting with the executive management team. Collaboration among a company’s department leaders, including IT, HR, finance, legal, risk, and operations, is vital to developing an effective oversight structure that integrates an enterprise-wide strategic approach to governance.
2. Hackers are a company’s biggest threat.
While hackers have not lost their competitive edge as menaces in today’s digital world, a company’s biggest threat can be found internally — its employees. Internal cyber-attacks are one of the biggest risks that companies face today, and they are becoming increasingly more prevalent. Internal attacks can cause devastating harm to a company, and given that insiders have access to a company’s internal systems, such attacks pose a more deleterious threat than external attacks.
And Digital Risk isn’t the only one trying to alert the industry of the growing threat.
Here are several recent headlines that should spur you to action:
- Here's proof your cybersecurity efforts might totally fail
- The next problem facing housing: Cybersecurity
- Cyber attacks increase for financial services industry
- Get ready: Regulators are looking hard at cybersecurity of third-party vendors
HousingWire’s upcoming webinar is geared to solving this growing threat.
In the webinar, attendees will learn from top industry experts, which include Hoffman, Patrick Dennis, president and CEO of Guidance Software, and Jim Halpert, partner at DLA Piper, about:
- Cybersecurity risks that lenders are exposed to on a daily basis
- Detailed explanation of how companies are exposed to security breaches
- An overview of the privacy laws that govern lenders
- Proactive measures that should be taken by company executives and their operations teams
- Developing cyber security mitigation plans
“Cyber risk has escalated exponentially across a number of industries, and the need for security has manifested itself at the helm of business agendas. As technology continues to advance, ensuring that effective safeguards are in place to properly address a company’s vulnerabilities, and mitigating the likelihood of cyber breaches, demands unprecedented technological sophistication on the part of companies,” said Hoffman and Collis.
“Cybersecurity is a complex and dynamic issue that requires, and will continue to require, constant review, modification, and improvement of industry standards and ‘best practices,’” they continued. “The approach to addressing security needs cannot be isolated to one solution given the evolutionary nature of cyber risk. Innovative ideas and new approaches will be the keys to rivaling evolving cyber threats.”
The webinar is on April 27 at 1 CST. Check here to register.
