Business

DORA Compliance in Financial Organisations: What You Need to Know

Published

2 weeks ago

September 15, 2023

Nick Hogg, Director of Security Training, Fortra

The regulatory landscape is tightening for European banking, financial, and insurance institutions. Besides adhering to various local and global legislations, these organisations must prove compliance with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) by 17 January 2025. DORA “sets uniform requirements for the security of network and information systems of companies and organisations operating in the financial sector as well as critical third parties which provide ICT (Information Communication Technologies)-related services to them, such as cloud platforms or data analytics services.”

This deadline will occur almost a year after the due date for PCI DSS 4.0 compliance and serves as a reminder that as the threat landscape evolves, so does the legislative one. Both DORA and PCI DSS 4.0 present excellent opportunities for financial organisations to re-evaluate their procedures for all compliance legislation and security requirements.

What can financial institutions do to ensure they are compliant?

Scoping and identifying overlap

The first step is identifying the risks faced and establishing the appetite for risk. Once these have been identified, organisations can then look at their existing policies, processes and defences to understand where existing elements can be reused or adapted to reduce the burden on the business. These steps will assist with prioritising projects and spending to ensure efficient use of resources.

Understand your environment

Having clear and consistent visibility into your infrastructure, whether on-premises or in the cloud, is essential to understanding whether something is at risk or poses a threat. Vulnerability scans, penetration testing and red team exercises are tools and techniques that help businesses identify those gaps that can be improved. Increasing the frequency of these scans and using automation to run them on a repeatable basis will help to lessen the impact on the teams involved. This increased visibility can help a company to respond to the small changes and risks swiftly. Financial organisations must also account for the internal changes that may cause a system to break or halt. Configuration change management and file integrity monitoring can help to reveal exactly what has changed, when, and who has made the change to avoid mistakes from crippling an entire organisation.

Business continuity and resilience

While prevention is an essential strategy, organisations cannot stop 100% of compromises and preparing for when something slips through the cracks of security controls is key. All the regulatory frameworks recognise that organisations will eventually experience some compromise or downtime, so balancing prevention with response strategies is a mature approach to security and compliance.

Treat internal and supply-chain risks

It’s important to mitigate the threats to infrastructure and software that might damage resilience. A simple inattentive moment can result in an employee clicking on a malicious link or opening an infected attachment. The best way to prevent this is to make security a constant presence, both technically, and logically. Technical data loss prevention tools, as well as security awareness training can augment existing controls.

Another necessary component for mitigating these threats is focusing on the third-party supply chain, which is also a critical ingredient of DORA compliance. Businesses must get visibility into the risks from suppliers and partners, especially those from software or applications. This is best achieved with careful review to make sure that these external parties meet the standards of the hosting organisation.

Discover hidden vulnerabilities

Financial organisations must invest in vulnerability scans and pen testing to ensure ongoing compliance and solid risk management. Both are valuable tools because they give a complete understanding of the posture and the gaps. They provide valuable insights and information that security teams can leverage to strengthen compliance security and get buy-in from the executives to allocate budget and resources to implement projects. The data from these scans and tests can also become instruments to help re-prioritise tasks and projects because they provide a more representative glimpse of what could happen if an attacker exploits these risks. Pen tests and vulnerability scans can determine the real-world impacts that may not be realised in a risk assessment.

Partner with a managed service provider

Another important consideration is evaluating whether a financial organisation has the capacity to become compliant or needs to hire additional resources. Buying the tools required for security and compliance is just one step. Organisations also need to consider the ongoing administration and management that will result from these additional resources. Hiring security professionals to build a security team is hard, and organisations must provide training to retain them. This is the best time for financial companies to consider managed security services, like detection and response, or data loss prevention. A managed service provider greatly extends the existing security team and is a cost-effective approach to security and compliance.

Train your employees

Financial organisations must also focus on training their employees about security awareness. A good strategy is to focus on one topic a month and avoid overloading people with acronyms and technical jargon. The content must be relative to the employees’ day-to-day operations and provide the context required to understand why a lack of security can cause a massive problem for an organisation.

Build additional layers of defence

Training is enormously effective; however, businesses need additional layers of defence to fortify themselves against evolving threats. These technology layers can help detect phishing emails, ransomware, and malware, and prevent an attack from crippling the infrastructure, or the ability to do business.

DORA compliance is a strategic advantage

Being DORA compliant is a strategic advantage in a highly competitive world. The date for compliance with DORA will come round quickly, and companies should begin their journey today. As there is much overlap with other regulations, these institutions can orchestrate their daily activities and projects to maintain compliance and security. Taking this approach indicates that your organisation respects your customers’ needs and provides them with the safest environments possible.

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Business

How can law firms embrace automation and revolutionise their payments?

Published

19 hours ago

September 28, 2023

editorial

Attributed to: Ed Boal, Head of Legal at Shieldpay

Once again, AI is dominating international headlines. This time, it’s due to a closed-door meeting this month between tech leaders and US senators to discuss the technology’s regulation.

AI and automation isn’t just for the likes of Big Tech. We’re seeing predictive and automated technologies transform almost every sector and the legal industry is no exception. In fact, recent research from HBR Consulting found that 60% of law departments had implemented a legal data analytics tool last year and more than 1 in 4 indicated they were using AI for at least a single use case.

However, adoption isn’t without its challenges. Reticence remains among some and there’s also the danger of ‘transformation fatigue’ slowing real progress. If law firms want to reap the many benefits of automation – including revolutionising their payment processes – these challenges need to be carefully considered and thoughtfully addressed.

An area of great opportunity

Often seen as conservative, the legal industry has been gradually warming up to the idea of automation and technology.

While some pioneering firms have been quick to embrace automation tools, others remain cautious about disrupting their established workflows. As we navigate this landscape, it’s clear that certain areas of legal services are ripe for innovation.

One area is contract management. The process of drafting, reviewing, and managing contracts has traditionally been time-consuming and prone to human errors. Automation can alleviate these pain points by streamlining the entire lifecycle of contracts, from creation to renewal, thereby enhancing efficiency and reducing risks.

Another promising domain is legal research. Thanks to advancements in natural language processing and machine learning, legal professionals can now leverage AI-powered research tools that analyse vast volumes of legal data to provide accurate insights and case precedents swiftly.

But, while progress is undoubtedly being made, the legal sector still lags other sectors when it comes to innovation.

What’s getting in the way of progress?

This isn’t always down to a resistance to change. Often, it’s a result of firms spreading their resources too thinly across numerous technology initiatives.

Ed Boal

Attempting to tackle everything at once can result in ‘transformation fatigue’, where the benefits of individual innovations get diluted – leading to frustration and slower progress.

Before legal firms embark on digital transformation projects, a critical first step is introspection. Recognising and acknowledging areas where legacy processes and manual tasks still hold sway is paramount to optimising the impact of automation.

For many firms, archaic practices continue to consume valuable time and resources, diverting attention from higher value, billable tasks. One often-overlooked area is payments.

Legal firms play a critical role in complex transactions, from M&A and real estate deals to litigation and arbitration payments. The associated admin and processes represent a drain of firms’ time and resources. Spanning everything from collating stakeholder payment details and verifying payee identity to ensuring compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulation, this adds unnecessary stress for lawyers – who would rather dedicate their time and expertise to their clients’ legal needs.

The repercussions of such time-consuming financial processes reverberate throughout the entire organisation. Administrative burden weighs heavily on the team, affecting productivity and ultimately, the bottom line: recent research from Shieldpay, surveying the UK’s Top 100 law firms, found that almost 1 in 3 (32%) say KYC collection and verification checks take 4-9 working days.

At the same time, firms are exposed to significant financial risk which can make handling client funds a costly endeavour. Not only are they penalised with fines if found to be in breach of stringent client account rules but firms are also subject to hefty premiums for Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance. No wonder 73% of all legal professionals and 90% of junior law professionals are concerned about the risks and time costs associated with holding client funds.

Revolutionising payment transactions

In short, manual payment processes are more than just an inconvenience for modern law firms. They can damage relationships with clients – who have come to expect a fast, painless and automated payout experience in a digital world – and impede revenue generation by tying up top talent in an endless cycle of paperwork and (unbillable) admin.

So how can firms take the pain out of legal payments?

Fortunately, new payment technologies have emerged as a formidable ally. Third-party payment providers offering solutions for law firms, such as escrow and paying agent services for specific transactional deals, or more embedded payment solutions such as managed accounts (TPMAs) – i.e. outsourced client account functions – offer secure and instant transactions, while prioritising transparency and automation.

TPMAs operate as an escrow payment service in which the third-party – a licensed external payments partner – receives and disburses funds on behalf of a firm and their client(s).

With advanced encryption ensuring data security, working with a regulated payment partner means legal professionals and their clients can engage in financial transactions with peace of mind – while law firms benefit from improved operational efficiency.

And the advantages don’t stop there. Enhanced transparency builds a sense of confidence and trust, while the elimination of manual data entry and repetitive tasks allows legal professionals to devote more time to legal services and fostering stronger relationships with their clients.

AI and automation has much to offer the legal sector. But its adoption must be carefully planned in order to avoid transformation fatigue that risks stalling progress altogether. With typically shallower pockets than Big Tech giants, it’s important for law firms to focus their efforts on specific areas that could benefit from automation, rather than rush to overhaul their entire way of working, all at once. This controlled phase-out is the key to avoiding adoption frustration, seeing a real impact on profits and productivity and setting firms up for real, lasting change.

Business

In-platform solutions are only a short-term enhancement, but bespoke AI is the future

Published

2 days ago

September 27, 2023

editorial

By Damien Bennett, Global Director, Principal Consultant, Incubeta

If you haven’t heard anyone talking about artificial intelligence (AI) yet, then where have you been? Conversations about AI and its advantages to society have been a key talking point over recent months, with advances being made in the generative AI race and ChatGPT opening a whole plethora of possibilities. Many have highlighted the advantages of AI, but notably it’s ability to create human-like content.

But these discussions have only scratched the surface of what AI is capable of doing. It is for far more than just essay writing, adding Eminem to your rave and photoshopping dogs into pictures.

In marketing, we have been using AI for years, for everything from analyzing customer behaviors to predicting market changes. It’s enabled us to segment customers, forecast sales and provide personalized recommendations, having a huge impact on how our industry works.

It is even, for the more savvy marketers of the world, becoming a key tool in maximizing budget efficiency – which is apt, considering over 70% of CMOs believe they lack sufficient budget to fully execute their 2023 strategy.

Now, as AI becomes more intelligent, the number of efficiencies it can unlock continues to rise. Not only can it help brands get the most out of their available resources and identify any areas of waste, but it can also help highlight new opportunities for growth and maximize the impact of your budget allocation.

The trick, however, is to veer away from the norm of using in-platform solutions with a one-size-fits-all approach and create your own, bespoke solutions that are tailored to your business needs.

Pitfalls of in-platform solutions

In-platform solutions aren’t by any means a bad thing. In fact, built-in AI tools have become increasingly popular, owing to their ease of integration, user-friendly interfaces and minimal set up requirements. They come pre-packaged with the platform, offering the user the ability to leverage AI technologies without the need for in-depth technical expertise or the upfront cost of building a solution from scratch.

However, the streamlined and accessible nature of in-platform AI solutions comes at the expense of complexity and customization. They are designed to serve a broad user base, but for the most part are built using narrow AI solutions with predefined features and workflows.

This makes them great for assisting with common AI tasks, but they lack the flexibility to tailor functionality towards unique business requirements or innovative use cases, limiting the potential efficiencies and cost savings that can be unlocked. Additionally, if a business’ competitors are using the same platform, they are probably using the same AI solution, meaning any strategic advantage gained from these will be reduced.

Bespoke AI solutions, on the other hand, may carry a higher initial investment – but can offer a significantly more attractive ROI over a short amount of time.

Why customized and adapted AI is the key

The difference between bespoke AI and in-platform solutions is similar to that between home cooked food and a microwave meal. Yes, it is more time consuming to prepare, and yes it likely carries more of an upfront cost, but the end result is going to be far more appealing and will carry more long-term value (financially… not nutritionally).

That’s because bespoke solutions, by nature, will have been tailored to address your brands specific needs and challenges. These custom-built tools allow for much greater efficiencies by streamlining workflows across different channels, automating more complex tasks, and providing deeper, more relevant insights.

The increased level of optimization can significantly improve productivity and reduce operational costs over time, offering a higher ROI. The increased flexibility of bespoke AI also allows brands to implement innovative use cases that can significantly differentiate them from their competitors.

The data analyzed can be specifically chosen to match business requirements, as can the outputs of the AI tool, providing a significant advantage when understanding and acting on the insights provided.

Additionally, these tools are, by nature, more scalable. They can be updated, upgraded and expanded as needs change, ensuring they continue delivering value as the business grows. They can also be designed to integrate with any existing IT infrastructure, from CRM systems and databases to marketing platforms and sales tools – leading to more efficient and effective decision-making.

Managing finances with AI

It’s no secret that AI in marketing automation has, and will continue to, revolutionize the way marketing is done. It has a bright, if slightly terrifying, future and can help CMOs to unlock new efficiencies, maximize the impact of their budgets and increase their ROI. And as this technology becomes more advanced, its impact will only increase.

But we already know that…and so does everyone else.

So, in order for businesses to make themselves stand out from the crowd , they must look to fully adopt the power of AI. Creating a customized and unique AI solution could be the way to set yourself apart from your competitors. A bespoke AI tool can provide brands and businesses with features unique to them and their business needs. As a result, companies will benefit from more useful data and better results to make more data-driven decisions for their business. Ultimately, this will help brands to maintain a competitive edge over their competitors, deliver ROI and most importantly optimize their budgets.