New cybersecurity threats test the mettle of financial services CIOs

CIOs in the financial services industry are in an interesting position these days. Cybersecurity threats have multiplied, seemingly exponentially, but so have risk management tactics – all thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). 

Several innovations have opened the door to advancements. AI copilots, for example, have made it more efficient for employees to advise customers. GenAI systems have automated the management of unstructured financial data, freeing up employees for higher-value tasks. 

But one of the most confounding new developments has been the rise in hybrid attacks — sophisticated cyber assaults designed to simultaneously exploit vulnerabilities across both cloud and on-premises enterprise environments.. These attacks are now faster, more complex, and more adaptive than earlier iterations, and financial services officials have been scrambling to fend them off. 

Rectifying weak threat detection 

In one case, a multinational bank with a traditional security information and event management (SIEM) system struggled with threat detection, operational inefficiencies, and compliance challenges. The bank transformed its security operations center (SOC) with an AI-driven SecOps platform that provided seamless integration, compliance, and automation. 

As a bonus, it achieved rapid threat detection and response. The reduction in false positives was nothing short of dramatic. The new approach meant a palpable increase in the kind of insights that drive security investment decision-making, supporting the institution’s long-term strategic goals.

The rule of thumb of hybrid attackers

Hybrid attackers move laterally across cloud and on-premises environments. In the modern cloud environment, workloads scale dynamically, applications deploy in real time, and data is unencumbered as it moves across geographic and organizational boundaries. Because attackers don’t distinguish between cloud and enterprise environments, security strategies must be holistic. 

Take the central Asia bank that needed an integration solution for its security tools and a way to automate its existing processes to help its SOC analysts do their work. In order to improve its mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to respond (MTTR), almost all the bank’s security technologies were integrated with its new solution, centralizing incident management and speeding up analysis and response times. 

The pace of cyberthreats

With cloud threats evolving at breakneck speed, financial institutions must prioritize proactive security. While an ideal system instantly detects and blocks runtime attacks to prevent escalation, not all vulnerabilities are created equal. AI’s ability to discern genuine threats from potential risks allows for a more strategic and effective security posture. 

Automation is at the core of a robust hybrid financial services security defense. Institutions require systems capable of isolating compromised containers, revoking credentials, and neutralizing misconfigurations swiftly to prevent attacker escalation. A crucial element of this strategy is the seamless integration of cloud defenses with the Security Operations Center (SOC), a vital step in countering hybrid cyberattacks. 

Palo Alto’s Cortex Cloud

Palo Alto’s Cortex Cloud provides this comprehensive approach, reshaping security operations for organizations handling sensitive information like banks. Built on intelligence, automation, and comprehensive visibility, Cortex Cloud offers AI-driven prioritization and automated remediation, ensuring financial institutions are protected across the entire spectrum—from code to cloud to SOC.

Learn what Cortex Cloud can do for your business.