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Quick Answer: Vulnerability management and patch management are related but distinct disciplines: vulnerability management identifies and prioritizes weaknesses across a bank’s systems, while patch management is the process of actually applying the fixes. Patch management doesn’t get the same attention as firewalls, MFA, or incident response plans, but examiners treat it as a core pillar […]
Category Archives: Banking
Banking
Before Your Bank Turns On Copilot: How to Clean Up SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive Permissions
05
Oct
Oct
Quick Answer: Microsoft 365 Copilot doesn’t create its own access model—it surfaces and summarizes whatever a user can already see across SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive. That’s good news from a security-boundary standpoint, but it means any existing permission problems become instantly more visible and more exploitable the moment Copilot is turned on. Most community banks […]
01
Sep
Sep
Stay audit-ready and build consumer trust by following this proven banking compliance roadmap—from policy development to ongoing monitoring. Cybersecurity in banking isn’t just a matter of protecting data; it’s a critical component of maintaining trust and staying afloat in a sea of regulations. For banks and related institutions, navigating the tides of regulatory banking compliance […]
25
Aug
Aug
Quick answer: Corporate Account Takeover (CATO) is a type of bank fraud where attackers use stolen or compromised credentials to gain direct access to business accounts. Unlike scams that rely on tricking employees, CATO gives attackers real account access. Prevention requires multi-factor authentication, active account monitoring, and a clear incident response plan. Corporate account takeover […]
25
Aug
Aug
Quick answer: Phishing-resistant MFA uses cryptographic methods, such as FIDO2 security keys and WebAuthn, to verify identity without any codes a user has to read or approve. For community banks, the highest-priority deployments are privileged access, remote access, and cloud-based platforms like Microsoft 365. Most community banks already have some form of multi-factor authentication in […]
24
Aug
Aug
Quick answer: A DDoS attack can take a community bank completely offline. Attackers flood your systems with illegitimate traffic until real users can’t get through, knocking out online banking, bill pay, and sometimes internal systems. Outages can last minutes or hours depending on the scale of the attack and the defenses in place. Community banks […]
23
Jul
Jul
Quick answer: A cyber threat intelligence program for community banks is a structured process for collecting, analyzing, and acting on information about cyber threats before they cause harm. It requires four core elements: trusted sources, a distribution channel, a prioritization process, and an action process. Most small banks can run one without a dedicated security […]
22
Jul
Jul
Quick answer: The FFIEC retired the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) on August 31, 2025, and did not replace it with an equivalent. Community banks should now choose from FFIEC-recognized alternatives: NIST CSF 2.0, CISA Cybersecurity Performance Goals, the CRI Cyber Profile, or CIS Controls guided by their size, risk profile, and examiner expectations. If your […]
30
Jun
Jun
Quick answer: Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) is a cybersecurity approach focused on spotting and stopping the misuse of user identities, like stolen passwords or hijacked admin accounts. For community banks, ITDR matters because attackers increasingly log in with legitimate credentials instead of breaking down digital doors. Most cyberattacks today don’t look like attacks […]
30
Jun
Jun
Quick answer: Community banks should review privileged access by pulling access lists from every critical system, identifying which accounts have admin rights, confirming each one ties to a real business need, and removing anything unnecessary. Done at least quarterly and documented with evidence, these reviews satisfy examiners and shrink your bank’s risk of insider misuse […]
