Sergey Kondratenko: Cybersecurity in the fintech industry – multi-level protection systems

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One of the most serious risks associated with financial technology security is cyber attacks. Due to the fact that fintech companies store confidential financial data, hackers and cybercriminals are constantly trying to find vulnerabilities in their systems, notes Sergey Kondratenko.

According to data in the field of cybersecurity, 2,200 cyberattacks are recorded every day in the world, the average time between them is 39 seconds. In the US alone, a data breach costs an average of $9.44 million, and projections show that economic losses from cybercrime could reach $8 trillion by 2023.

According to Sergey Kondratenko, these figures prove that the fintech industry is exposed to the risks of cyber threats. In this regard, cybersecurity issues need to be seriously considered.

Sergey Kondratenko is a recognized specialist in a wide range of e-commerce services with experience for many years. Now, Sergey is the owner and leader of a group of companies engaged not only in different segments of e-commerce, but also successfully operating in different jurisdictions, represented on all continents of the world. The main goal is to drive new traffic, create and deliver an online experience that will endear users to the brand, and turn visitors into customers while maximizing overall profitability of the online business.

Sergey Kondratenko: Protecting infrastructure and equipment from cyber threats

With the development of communication networks and the Internet, a dangerous type of cyber threat has emerged: by causing physical harm to critical infrastructure and equipment. Sergey Kondratenko says that these attacks are aimed at controlling operational technologies.

What should you do to avoid this? The specialist advises fintech participants on five critical operational technology cybersecurity controls:

1. ICS Incident Response Plan. It should include detailed steps and scenarios, as well as application examples tailored to the specific organization.
2. Secure architecture. Having an IT infrastructure in place that allows security management to track devices, maintain activity logs, identify assets, and adhere to communication processes.
3. ICS network monitoring and visibility. Here we are talking about continuous monitoring of the security of the network environment. To do this, it is better to use systems that will warn of potential risks.
4. Secure Remote Access. Identifying and inventorying all remote access points and implementing on-demand access.
5. Risk-Based Vulnerability Management. Understanding existing cyber digital assets and device operating environments to help make informed vulnerability management decisions based on the risks of exploitation.

Sergey Kondratenko is convinced that participants in the fintech industry should be attentive to such real and alarming threats. This will help prioritize OT (Operational Technology) cybersecurity programs in a timely manner.

Sergey Kondratenko: Network security in fintech, its role in protecting against cyber attacks

Monitoring IP traffic is one of the effective methods for ensuring network security. Sergey Kondratenko highlights its main advantages:

• Better visibility of network traffic. Monitoring all incoming and outgoing network traffic allows you to quickly identify suspicious activity and potential threats. This provides an opportunity to take proactive steps to ensure the security of a fintech company’s network before major issues arise. In addition, such a tool can provide detailed reports that help assess network performance and identify areas that require special security attention.
• Increased security. Enables real-time detection of malicious activity such as software, viruses and other potential threats. Moreover, this tool is also able to detect unauthorized access attempts and block them in a timely manner.
• Increased efficiency. By automating many processes associated with monitoring network traffic, you can significantly save time and resources. In addition, this type of tool helps reduce the number of false positives, thus providing accurate data about potential threats.

One of the ways to monitor IP traffic for network security purposes is software – firewalls.

– The main purpose of firewalls is to control and filter network traffic between different network segments or between the network and external resources (for example, the Internet). This helps prevent unauthorized access and protect against cyber threats, explains Sergey Kondratenko.

The specialist calls the following main functions of firewalls: Traffic filtering, intrusion protection (Intrusion Prevention, use of a proxy server and NAT (Network Address Translation), registration and monitoring of events. He also adds that many firewalls provide VPN (Virtual Private Network) functionality for creating secure connections over open networks such as the Internet.

Data protection in fintech: encryption, key management and secure storage

Data leaks and cyber-attacks have become a major threat to organizations in today’s world. The consequences of successful cyberattacks can be catastrophic, including financial losses, loss of customer trust and diminished brand reputation. Given such a global cyberspace, Sergey Kondratenko is convinced that fintech organizations should attach great importance to cybersecurity

To do this, the expert suggests considering a list of recommendations that must be taken into account to create a secure financial application.

• Compliance with industry standards and regulations. The fintech sector has strict regulatory rules that must be followed to protect customer data and ensure cybersecurity. It is important to familiarize yourself with these regulations and ensure that the application complies with standards such as Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, PCI-DSS and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• Secure data storage. When creating a secure fintech application, you need to decide what data should be stored and where, and how to control access to the application.

– One of the key aspects is minimizing the storage of confidential data to prevent the possibility of information leakage, comments Sergey Kondratenko. – For example, you can create a secure payment gateway that does not require storing customer card numbers. In addition, regular testing of data recovery procedures plays an important role in ensuring the integrity of information. This ensures that in the event of a failure or incident, data can be recovered without loss. It is also important to keep in mind that an effective application architecture should be simple and easily manageable to facilitate secure storage and access of data within the system.

• Secure application code. If there are even the slightest vulnerabilities in the code, it can jeopardize the entire business. Therefore, technical experts deploying code must consider proper logging, input validation, password management, error handling, authentication, cryptography techniques, and secure communications.
• Implement secure APIs, data encryption, two-factor authentication. The success of the fintech sector largely depends on the security and scalability of financial solutions, emphasizes Sergey Kondratenko. For this reason, it is critical to use the following robust security measures when developing fintech applications:
• Biometric identification adds an additional layer of security to the application. It allows you to access a fintech solution only using unique biometric data – facial recognition, fingerprint and others.
• Multi-factor authentication requires you to provide multiple forms of identification to access the application. For example, customers must use passwords sent to their mobile device before accessing their accounts.
• Data encryption, according to Kondratenko, is one of the best methods for protecting financial information. The expert recommends adding a strong encryption feature to protect sensitive user data at rest and during transmission. Thus, the fintech company is guaranteed that hackers will not be able to gain unauthorized access and interpret the information.
• Application programming interfaces (APIs). In the financial technology industry, Fintech application security solutions are known to interact with a variety of external services through APIs. Therefore, cybersecurity strategies in this area must include protection measures for these APIs to prevent illegitimate access and possible information leaks.

Sergey Kondratenko notes that by integrating such cybersecurity solutions, companies can effectively cope with threats in the fintech sector. Thereby contributing to a reliable and stable digital financial ecosystem.