"A well designed and implemented data loss prevention solution to identify, monitor and protect  data with a centralized management framework can deliver real operational value"

Use and Implementation of Cloud in business

An end user is dependent on the application, the business on infrastructure and a developer on the platform. The cloud with its inherent capability to sever this dependency with the solutions such as SaaS, IaaS and PaaS hold a great promise for any business organisation. For an institution like a bank, that is already on centralized severs through network, cloud computing has huge potential, provided issues of information security, sharing risks, confidentiality and privacy involved are tested and assured to be foolproof.

Building an effective Data Loss Prevention programme

Data is invaluable for a financial institution where information constitutes over 85 percent of the assets. Therefore, a well designed and implemented data loss prevention solution to identify, monitor and protect data with a centralized management framework can deliver real operational value. The network DLP, Storage DLP, as well as endpoint DLP solutions to detect data leakage and to prevent the loss would contribute directly towards fraud prevention apart from reputational loss. Banks deal in very important information and therefore integrated DLP is the need of the hour.

Ensuring Social Media as an asset for business

In the fast moving world with ever evolving mass communication technologies to link the homogeneous groups, role of social media for a service oriented industry like bank is difficult to ignore. Social media should reflect the moods, sentiments, perceptions, quality of services and products and expectations of the customers on almost real time basis for the organization. The organisation in turn should provide that much of space to encourage, imbibe and improve upon, taking the positives from the healthy discussions and criticisms. Proper administrative control driven through documented, detailed fair and socially acceptable usages and control guidelines can rule out the threats of abuse of social media threats.

Maximizing the cost efficiency for information security

Profit is the engine that drives the whole train of business. In the risk and return trade off, expenditure for implementation of security measures need to be well justified. Towards this end, the information security team of the organisation has to build up a strong business case and demonstrate the same effectively to get a positive nod from the top management for a go ahead. In this process, a well calculated cost benefit analysis would help convince the management for a final sign off.

Mobile devices to minimize threat, loss and risk

For a developing country like India where mobile connectivity is increasing at a very fast rate, an all inclusive growth would remain a remote possibility without use of mobile technology. Realizing the immense possibility of mobile banking from its success story in the African subcontinent, there is an increasing competition for its use as a vehicle of growth. The banks on its part should provide a robust mobile  application for client side, a secured connectivity apart from effective customer education including social engineering attacks for safe banking,  while keeping the malware, virus and other threats at bay. There is untapped and great comfort potential available in mobile technology for banks and financial systems to explore, adopt and prove that it is safe to replace manual or traditional systems of operations.