In the current threat landscape, businesses across every sector are affected by cybersecurity risks. However, the financial sector has been taking the brunt of it.

What’s going on?

The New Zealand stock market was hit by a major cyberattack, knocking off its websites offline. This was the fifth attack in a series of DDoS attacks against NZX Ltd. The attacks resulted in the discontinuation of trading in its cash markets and interrupting operations in its debt and derivatives markets.

What does this imply?

  • Damage to reputation concerted with downtime could cost targeted organizations a loss of revenue in millions.
  • Financial data is one of the most important popular purchases on the dark web.
  • Often, businesses have to close compromised accounts and refund fraudulent transactions as it is difficult to find where the pilfered information originated from.

Other recent attacks

  • Apart from NZX, some other financial service providers were also recently attacked by the threat actors. These firms include MoneyGram, Worldpay, PayPal, Venmo, and Braintree. The attackers have demanded a hefty ransom in Bitcoin payments.
  • CactusPete APT group has been targeting the financial sector in Eastern Europe. The attackers returned with a new strain of the Bisonal backdoor, which allows them to steal info, laterally move within a network, and run code on target computers.
  • Some financially-motivated attackers are targeting e-commerce sites, banks, and payment card providers. The threat actors use banking trojan coupled with a malicious DLL file that downloads the IcedID malware.

Worth noting

  • It is imperative that businesses operating in the financial sector start consolidating cybersecurity.
  • Organizations can identify potential weak points to manage sensitive information.
  • Financial firms should analyze the TTPs used by attackers to strengthen their defenses based on the most critical threats for their infrastructure.

The bottom line

Cybersecurity is a pain in the neck for organizations worldwide, especially in the financial sector. It is absolutely necessary that these organizations follow proper ways to curb these attacks and protect sensitive information.

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