Is Cyber Security Enough- A study on Big Data Security Breaches in Financial Institutions

Abstract

The evolution of technology has turned out to be both a boon and a bane for the financial industry- invaders are getting increasingly creative in their attacks. The financial sector across the globe is facing the heat of data breaches due to the strategic position it holds in the national and global economy. The study presents MECA (Model to Encounter Cyber Attacks) which could be adopted by financial institutions. MECA proposes the intelligent application of IDS, Security Patches and Big Data Analytics to mitigate cyber challenges in financial institutions. The focus of MECA is to technologically orient institutes to handle dynamic cyber breaches, to train employees to effectively apply this intelligent application and to develop them as the first line of defense to cyber-attacks. The paper also looks into the actors in a cyber-attack and the tools predominantly used to reach their objective. It casts light over the general cyber-attack framework, its stages and the effect it has on the financial institution system.