In addition, Indian financial services firms lost on average Rs68.6 million ($1.5 million) from data breaches last year. Symantec surveyed 100 respondents in the Indian banking, insurance, and brokerage industries for the report Symantec Security Check – Indian Financial Services Industry 2011.
A full 67% of respondents said they lost productivity and 61% said they lost customers as a result of data breaches. More than 80% faced downtown due to cyberattacks. Last year, 23% of respondents experienced a cyberattack, ranging from phishing attempts, theft of proprietary information, and denial of service attacks.
Symantec also found that for 50% of financial services firms regulatory and governance mandates drive information security adoption. One in four respondents that experienced a cyberattack faced monetary penalties as a result.
Over the last year, the Reserve Bank of India has mandated two-factor authentication at banks for all delivery channels. In the past 12 months, 31% of respondents have invested in identity management.
According to the survey, technology investments during the next financial year will be made to strengthen governance, business continuity planning, securing mobile and wireless transactions, data loss prevention and network security.
The risk of exposing confidential information is increasing as customers explore new channels for financial transactions through e-commerce and mobile banking. According to the survey, mobile and online transactions (18%) and internal threats (15%) are significant factors driving security adoption.