By Katarzyna Fulek-Szajkowska, ING Hubs Poland 

While cybersecurity is a growing topic of public discussion, we can only understand its importance by learning more about it. Children at primary schools start their cyber journey by browsing the web as they learn. However, we, as citizens, employees, and clients of the financial system, must educate ourselves about the benefits and threats that the Internet entails. 

One of the most fragile branches of the digital ecosystem which we deal with everyday is banking. We all have mobile apps to access our accounts. The financial system is almost fully digitalized. Banks collect huge amounts of data that is utilized for many procedures, including ones that ensure the security of the money in our accounts. 

So what are the greatest cyberthreats in the financial sector? We posed this question to Przemysław Wolek, Global IT Security Tribe Lead in ING Hubs Poland.

At the moment, one of the biggest threats – at least from ING’s perspective – is threat detection and how to increase its effectiveness. Of course, another bank may have other priorities. However, we want to counteract a range of threats. Certainly – from the perspective of a financial institution – these are attacks against the bank's customers and employees. [And] while it may already sound like something of a "broken record", people will always be the weakest link in protecting against a cyber-attack. It always starts with human error, whether it is via social engineering, phishing, or some other, even relatively simple, type of deception. However, the result of any of these attacks is that they often unwittingly provide access to an organization’s internal resources.

We invest a lot in detecting threats and increasing the effectiveness of our IT security tools for many reasons, including the geometric increase in the complexity of IT environments. That is also why the challenges faced by the CyberSec department are growing.

Organizations like ING Hubs Poland need more and more talented IT specialists who will be able to keep their systems up and running (and the money safe). We must also be aware that the methodology of cyber-attacks is continually evolving. We must remember that reckless usage of banking applications and system passwords is a gift to those whose purpose is not the theft of data but its destruction. Cyber criminals who attack financial institutions with this kind of goal do not care about the outcomes of their actions.

This year’s Cybersecurity Month started in Poland with a debate in the Polish Press Agency on “Cybersecurity challenges – how to detect, respond and prevent cyber-attacks”. During the entire month, a lot of awareness activities are planned for both professionals and ordinary citizens.