Financial services firms operate in a highly regulated environment and their customers are protective of their personal information and prone to change providers if they don’t have a level of trust and confidence. This higher level of expectation means there is a greater level of risk; the Ponemon Institute finds that a data break at a financial services organization costs $239 per comprised record, or more than 21 percent of the average. 

For the “Counting on Data Loss Prevention: Financial Firms Use DLP to Protect Customer Data and Their Own Reputations” industry feature, CIO Digest spoke with several industry analysts, as well as a couple thought leaders, about Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and its growing importance and focus of attention in financial services. The criticality of DLP for financial services is accentuated when one thinks about the recent events in the financial markets and the chaos created by acquisitions, employee layoffs, and even bankruptcies.

Thought leaders realize fast value

Donna Durkin, the information security officer at Computershare, North America, is leveraging Symantec Data Loss Prevention to increase the level of security awareness across the organization. With an internal policy that ensures a response to a DLP-related issue within 15 minutes or less, Durkin is helping to facilitate the adoption of DLP by employees.

Craig Shumard, the CISO at CIGNA, deployed Symantec Data Loss Prevention, citing that it provides a much more comprehensive solution compared with the email monitoring point solution the company used. He argues that DLP has become a fundamental building block in financial services.

Find out more

For more detail on DLP and its relevance in the financial services sector today, subscribers can download the industry feature in the October 2008 issue of CIO Digest. If you would like to subscribe to CIO Digest, complete the online subscription form in less than five minute