Financial firms seek outside security pros

Financial services companies are looking for help in protecting themselves from hackers and data thieves, and to get the best protection, they are tapping external security providers. An article from DarkReading.com outlines the kind of experts that financial institutions want--they include Internet and network service providers, full-service IT outsourcers, managed security services and software-as-a-service providers.

The advice doesn't come cheap. TowerGroup, an IT consulting group, estimates global spending on risk management technologies is $24 billion this year, and it's expected to rise to $30 billion in 2012.

But the thefts continue even with heightened knowledge of threats, and all the spending on security. In 2009, for example, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, CheckFree Corp., and Merrill Lynch, all had major data breaches.

Financial hackers are also becoming more sophisticated, using techniques that allow them to gather data across multiple channels at the same time. The war on the financial services industry is intensifying, and these institutions have no choice but to make their fortresses tighter.

For more on threats to financial institutions:
- check out this DarkReading.com article

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