Finding a balance today between securing customer information and not disrupting everyday work is a key problem facing financial services companies, according to Alex Berson, a Director with BearingPoint.
“While financial services companies want to make their data unusable to hackers and cyber thieves, they must simultaneously avoid disrupting various clearing and settlement applications, as well as regular transactions,” says Berson, who leads BearingPoint’s Customer Identity Management practice. “Financial services firms cannot only focus today on securing their customer information in motion, or in transit; they must also work hard at protecting their stored data, or their ‘data at rest.’ They must construct a comprehensive, business-driven security system capable of fending-off unauthorized access and simultaneously keeping their companies performing at a high level.”
The Computing Technology Association (CompTIA) recently reported that nearly one-third of respondents in a poll said that data protection and security are the biggest challenges for information technology professionals involved in managing storage networks.
“Data movement through security mechanisms is extremely complex, therefore it is important for financial services companies to anticipate various scenarios in securing data while trying to maintain their everyday work,” says Berson. “Executives must consider the company’s business requirements, including requests that the security process not impact response time and transactions in order to achieve overall success.”