Study: PH banks’ digital assets vulnerable to hacking

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Thousands of internet-linked assets used by Filipino banks and other financial service providers are exposed to digital threats, according to cybersecurity firm Tenable, raising the need for stronger digital defenses to ward off hackers.

In its recent study, Tenable noted that 2,600 assets—like web servers, internet of things devices and network printers—of local financial sector players were vulnerable to cyber threats.

The report noted that potential cybersecurity gaps included outdated software and weak data security measures, which can be taken advantage of by bad threat actors.

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“The results of our study reveal that many financial institutions are struggling to close the priority security gaps that put them at risk. Effective exposure management is key … ,” Tenable senior vice president Nigel Ng said.

“By identifying and securing vulnerable assets before they can be exploited, organizations can better protect themselves against the growing tide of cyberattacks,” he added.

Business email compromise (BEC) is a common form of cyberattack targeting enterprises. Hackers send emails embedded with suspicious links to business emails of company employees. These hope to trick employees into providing access to the corporate IT system.

Another typical digital threat is ransomware whereby hackers hold an entity’s system hostage until a ransom is paid.

The disruption in operations caused by such cyberattacks is detrimental to the business due to spending related to retrieval of their data or system, in addition to opportunity costs because of the down time.