Securing Access to Data in Financial Services

How to meet strict regulations without hampering account teams

Leaders in financial services depend on timely access and the ability to pivot quickly when the market changes. Being able to share client information in a controlled and timely fashion ensures that the client will be taken care of, even in the event of their financial advisor not being available. 

Conflictingly, financial regulations require strict access auditing and the ability to verify that employees who access these key accounts truly should have access – simply put, are you really who you say you are? Additionally, regulatory requirements such as PCI, FFIEC and GLBA not only dictate that PII access be limited to those who have a verified necessity to know, they also require that the access be logged and auditable. 

While data breaches in the financial services industry are fewer than some other industries, but when they do occur a large volume of highly sensitive records can be exfiltrated. This can pose a challenge for businesses looking to maintain compliance, protect records and foster success for financial advisors and customers.

Healthcare — 9.23 Energy — 4.65 Financial — 5.72 Pharma — 5.04 Technology — 4.88 Industrial — 4.24 Services — 4.65 Entertainment — 3.8 Global Average — 4.24 Transportation — 3.75 Comms — 3.62 Consumer — 3.7 Retail — 3.27 Hospitality — 3.03 Media — 3.17 Research — 3.6 Average cost of data breaches worldwide as of 2021, by industry(in million U.S. dollars) Source: Statista 2022

Protecting at the data layer

Imagine a scenario where instead of focusing solely on the identity of the end user, a solution took a holistic view and built security directly into the data itself – based on associated policies and the classification of the data. Security would rely less on detection and securing a perimeter, and allow the data to self-protect. When security is embedded directly into the data with multiple encryption layers, no single layer can be compromised without triggering protection mechanisms.

Next, imagine the data contains true intelligence and interactive decision-making. Not only is the data protected, but it is can independently self-assess its environment, including geo-location, data classification and time embargos to grant or prevent access. 

Now financial advisors can share data with a specific person for a specific time period – knowing that the data itself is secure – allowing them the peace of mind to get back to their critical job.