Singapore's financial sector likely to remain cyber-attack target: Fortinet

SINGAPORE'S financial services sector is likely to remain a top target for cybercriminals in 2017 due to the sensitive nature and value of financial data that the industry holds, according to cybersecurity firm Fortinet.

These data are "extremely valuable" on the online black market, and cybercriminals are using new ways to exploit increasingly complex network environments in the financial services sector, including developing new techniques to bypass security and evade detection, said Thiantara Kruathorn, Fortinet's country manager for Singapore.

The company predicts five cybersecurity trends that will occur in the financial services industry this year. These include:

* Companies further securing the cloud as they move more data there;

* More financial institutions using Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) to prevent data breaches

* More banks and insurers securing the Internet of Things to personalise customer experience

* The government becoming more involved in regulations

* The emergence of "smarter solutions" for smarter attacks