10 Ways You Can Fortify Your Financial Business Against Modern Threats

By Kehinde Ogundare, Country Head for Zoho in Nigeria

In today's digital landscape, financial institutions face unprecedented challenges. From sophisticated cyberattacks, revolving regulatory requirements, the pressure to maintain security while driving business growth has never been more intense. According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), the country’s financial sector lost around 52.26 billion Naira (US$34.8 million) in 2024 to fraudsters. In the same period, the amount lost to fraud increased by 196% over the past five years, in parallel with the growth of financial transactions in the digital payments sector.

Kehinde Ogundare highlights the severity of the issue:

”The financial sector suffered an unprecedented wave of cyberattacks in 2024, resulting in the exposure of critical vulnerabilities, a sharp decline in public trust, and substantial financial damage.”

This perfect storm of challenges requires a strategic approach to security and operational efficiency. Here are ten critical strategies financial institutions are implementing to fortify their businesses against modern threats.

1. Enhanced phishing protection

Phishing remains the most common entry point for data breaches in financial institutions. Advanced email screening systems that automatically filter suspicious messages are now considered essential infrastructure. According to the 2024 African Perspectives on Cyber Security Report by Check Point Software Technologies, Nigeria is grappling with a surge in cyberattacks, with organisations facing an average of 3,759 threats every week. The financial sector endures an even higher frequency of attacks, averaging 4,718 per week. "Phishing emails are one of the most common ways hackers try to access your systems,” Ogundare notes.

"The most effective defense is a multi-layered approach that combines technology that screens incoming communications with ongoing employee training."

Forward-thinking financial firms should implement automated email scanning systems that redirect suspicious messages to spam folders and allow security teams to create custom policies that block specific IPs associated with known threats.

2. Secure communication channels

Sensitive financial data must be handled with the highest level of security, making encrypted communication channels essential. Nigerian financial institutions must comply with the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR), which mandates that businesses take responsible steps to protect client information. While the NDPR doesn't explicitly require encryption, global best practices and the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) cybersecurity guidelines strongly encourage it as a crucial security measure.

Secure email systems with one-time passcode verification, restrictions on forwarding, and expiration dates for sensitive messages can significantly reduce vulnerabilities. Implementing these measures ensures that confidential client data does not fall into the wrong hands, mitigating the risk of financial fraud and identity theft.

3. Robust password management

Weak passwords are a major security vulnerability in the financial sector, with over 80% of data breaches involving compromised credentials. Poor password practices, including the reuse of passwords across multiple accounts, remain a significant cybersecurity concern in Nigeria.

"As the saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link — and when it comes to financial institutions, weak or reused passwords are often that link," Ogundare explains.

“To better protect their systems, financial firms should move beyond simple password policies and implement comprehensive credential management systems that identify potentially compromised passwords and enforce regular rotation schedules.”

4. Controlled collaboration spaces

As financial teams collaborate on sensitive matters, controlling who has access to what information has become increasingly critical.

Ogundare observes:

"Financial advisory teams handling high-net-worth portfolios should have secure, role-based permissions that ensure only authorised personnel can view and edit client data."

Setting granular permissions for different collaboration channels ensures only the appropriate team members, such as portfolio managers or compliance officers, can access specific information, preventing unnecessary exposure of sensitive data.

5. Data visualisation for rapid decision-making

In financial services, timing is everything. The ability to quickly transform complex data sets into actionable insights can be the difference between capturing an opportunity and missing it entirely.

"Financial institutions manage numerous data—from financial data to performance metrics. Making sense of it all can feel overwhelming. Fortunately, visualisation tools can empower you to arrive at decisions faster," says Ogundare. "This is imperative in today’s landscape as firms gaining competitive advantage today are those that can turn their data into decisions within minutes, not days."

Advanced data visualisation tools that offer features like in-cell charts for profit margins and interactive trend analysis are becoming essential for financial teams needing to make rapid, informed decisions.

6. Streamlined compliance management

Maintaining compliance with an ever-growing list of regulations presents a significant challenge for financial institutions, requiring continuous monitoring, adaptation, and investment in robust compliance frameworks. As regulatory landscapes evolve, staying ahead demands a proactive approach.

To ensure organisation-wide compliance awareness, institutions should create designated intranet portals where compliance regulations and data protection laws are clearly communicated. Critical regulations should be marked as mandatory reading with verification tracking to demonstrate due diligence to regulators.

"Compliance isn't confined to specific departments anymore—it's fundamentally an organisational responsibility," Ogundare emphasises. "Financial institutions need to stay on top of local and international regulations and be able to provide accurate reports during audits."

7. Comprehensive audit preparation

To avoid the significant penalties and reputational damage that can result from being unprepared, financial firms need to establish proactive audit preparation processes.

To streamline audit processes, financial institutions should implement detailed audit trail features that track all document changes, including who made each modification and when, allowing them to quickly produce the documentation auditors require without disrupting business operations.

“Previously, audits would disrupt operations for weeks,” says Ogundare. "However, with robust audit trail systems now implemented, our clients can generate comprehensive reports within hours without interrupting their daily activities."

8. Real-time collaborative tools

Working with outdated information in finance can lead to costly errors that impact both profitability and client relationships. Relying on document collaboration tools that update in real-time ensures that everyone — whether in the office or working remotely — has access to the most current data when making decisions.

Ogundare notes:

“Shared, up-to-date data is now essential. If several advisors work with one client, they all need to see the latest information immediately. This prevents them from giving conflicting advice or doing the same tasks twice.”

9. Automated data cleaning

Data quality directly impacts decision quality in financial services. Inaccurate or duplicate data can lead to flawed analysis and poor business outcomes. To improve data quality and analysis efficiency, financial institutions should deploy automated tools that identify duplicates, standardise formats, and fill missing values, allowing their teams to work with clean, reliable data without time-consuming manual processes.

"Imagine you're preparing for an important audit, and you're reviewing spreadsheets filled with client data, financial records, or transaction histories. You notice multiple duplicate entries, inconsistent formatting, and some missing values. Manually sifting through rows of data to clean it up would take hours," Ogundare observes."The financial institutions pulling ahead in analytics are those that have automated their data cleaning processes.”

10. Business continuity planning

Ensuring uninterrupted operations during system transitions or unexpected disruptions is critical for financial institutions, where even brief service interruptions can damage client trust.

As the pandemic demonstrated, business continuity is critical,” Ogundare states. “Financial institutions now need technology that can maintain operations during both planned transitions and unexpected disruptions.

To maintain service continuity, financial firms should implement phased migration approaches when adopting new systems, using features like split and dual delivery to maintain operations during transitions.

Building resilience in an evolving landscape

As cyber threats grow more sophisticated and regulatory requirements become increasingly stringent, financial institutions must continue to evolve their security and operational strategies.

"The financial institutions that will thrive are those that view security not as a cost centre but as a business enabler," Ogundare concludes. "When you have robust security measures in place, you can innovate with confidence, knowing your foundation is solid."

By implementing these ten strategies, financial institutions can better protect sensitive data, maintain regulatory compliance, and focus on what matters most — serving clients and growing their business in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

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Source: Legit.ng