ARANDOM survey by Fair Isaac Corp. (Fico) revealed data breaches in other industries will harm financial institutions this year.
According to Fico, all 36 fraud executives from 18 leading Asia-Pacific (Aspac) banks they polled said banks in the region are keenly aware of the threat posed by the increasingly connected business landscape.
Financial System Inquiry (FSI) card portfolios are more vulnerable when customer data is collected by so many entities, the software company founded by Bill Fair and Earl Isaac said.
Fico’s poll results revealed that 38 percent of respondents ranked large retailers as being at the greatest risk for a data breach in 2016, while 35 percent of respondents point to telecommunications companies (telcos).
By contrast, small business (25 percent) and health care (22 percent) were voted as the industries least likely to be at risk of a data breach this year. Hospitality and travel, along with insurance, were ranked as medium risks for data breaches in the year ahead.
“Rapid Internet and mobile penetration have seen many industries grow their online capabilities to include payments, online applications and account-management services, yet, many organizations only have basic security in place,” Raed Taji, head of Global Fraud Consulting for Fico in Aspac, was quoted in a statement as saying. “These businesses are soft targets compared to the banks because they lack the resources or historical security focus needed to protect critical systems and customer data.”
Citing a study from Visa, Fico said there was an average 22-percent increase in shopping on mobile phones last year across 13 Aspac markets. Indonesia, China and Taiwan reported the highest rates of growth for 2015 at 36 percent, 34 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
About 24 percent of those polled nominated low security awareness among employees as the No. 1 factor that might inhibit their own organization’s ability to stop a data breach. Another 21 percent said a lack of budget was to blame, while 40 percent ranked too many siloed operations as their No. 2 issue. “These results show that better processes, education and management are just as important as having the right technology to keep up with the ever evolving cybersecurity and fraud landscape,” Taji said. “To avoid becoming a hacking statistic, companies should focus on good security habits, like educating their staff, using strong security solutions and examining how they are collecting, using and storing valuable data.”
According to Dan McConaghy, president for FICO in Asia Pacific, “Cybercrime is no longer a problem for the IT or fraud department alone.”