New Financial Services Industry Report Reveals Major Gaps in Storage and Backup Security

PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK, December 8, 2021-- Continuity™, the first dedicated storage and backup security provider, today announced findings from its Security Intelligence Report: Analysis of Storage and Backup Security in the Financial Services & Banking Sector. This extensive study – the first of its kind – explores the security posture of storage and backup environments in the global financial services industry.

The survey of 200 financial services firms and banks from 45 countries revealed that most of these organizations have not yet reached a satisfactory level of storage and backup maturity. Notably, more than half (52%) of the respondents were not strongly confident about their storage and backup security, and a quarter (25%) noted they were significantly concerned (low or no confidence).

When organizational data is compromised, the last line of defense lies in the storage and

backup environments. Recent years have witnessed an alarming growth in the number

and sophistication of data-centered attacks – primarily ransomware. In the financial and banking industries, digital data worth may be so high that a well-orchestrated attack on both storage and backup could wipe out a significant amount of the organization’s value, potentially affecting entire economies.

The report revealed:

· More than two-thirds (69%) of the respondents believe an attack on their storage environment will have ‘significant’ or ‘catastrophic’ impact;

· Nearly 60% of the respondents are not confident in their ability to recover from a ransomware attack;

· Over two thirds of the respondents mentioned securing storage and backup systems has been specifically addressed in recent external audits, yet storage (57%) and backup systems (47%) were the two lowest focus areas of organizations’ vulnerability management programs.

· Continuously changing priorities (44%), organizational silos (42%), and lack of skilled personnel (41%) were the most prominent challenges to achieving effective storage and backup security.

“The fact that so many recent ransomware attacks have been successful, and the alarming percentage of organizations that have elected to pay to get their data back rather than rely on their own capabilities, illustrates the gravity of the hour,” said Doron Pinhas, CTO, Continuity. “The results of this study highlighted the significant challenges facing the financial sector. In terms of securing storage and backup systems, most organizations are several steps behind in the race against modern data-criminals, cyber-terrorists, or hostile nation-states. Far greater focus must be placed on improving the security posture of storage and backup, and more stringent controls and testing must be applied to ensure the ability to recover from an attack.”

Read the full report to learn more about the challenges facing financial institutions today, and the key opportunities for improvement.

Additional Resources

· Read the NIST Guide for Storage Security – co-authored by Continuity.

· Visit our blog for storage security insights and advice from company executives and experts.

Methodology

Continuity commissioned an online survey of CISOs that took place from June 10 to August 10, 2021.

The 200 validated respondents represent a cross-section of organizations from 45 countries, including USA, UK, China, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil,

Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and the UAE.

Responses were grouped by topics, and the results of related questions were inspected for consistency. Percentage values have been rounded up to the nearest whole number.

About Continuity

With the rise in cybersecurity threats, Continuity is the only solution provider that helps enterprises protect their data by securing their storage & backup systems – both on-premises and in the cloud. Continuity’s StorageGuard complements existing data-protection and vulnerability management solutions, by adding a layer of security that prevents attackers from penetrating storage and backup systems, which can result in gaining control over practically all of an enterprise’s critical data.

Among Continuity’s customers are the world’s largest financial services firms and Fortune 500 enterprises, including six of the top 10 US banks. For more information, please visit www.continuitysoftware.com