It is a common practice today for financial institutions to utilize numerous applications which are accessed by thousands of users; whether they are customers of the institution, its employees or third-party service providers. In such establishments, confidential data is downloaded from these applications and then shared internally – and also with external parties such as business partners and agents. This data, very large numbers of unstructured information in the form of files and emails are spread all over the enterprise and beyond: on file servers, email inboxes, personal desktops, partner’s servers, etc.
Like any other bank, HDFC Bank also outsources a major part of its printing operations to specialized printing vendors for various tasks like printing of credit card statements, cheque books, welcome letters, account statements, as well as credit card personalization and embossing activities.
While outsourced printing has multiple benefits, security remains a major concern. Data sent to these vendors consists of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) which the bank is legally bound to keep confidential. Elaborate security measures (e.g. DLP) were already in place for preventing data leakage and monitoring data inside the HDFC Bank network. However, the scope of such tools did not extend to securing information sent to various vendor locations, which were spread all over India. Preventative measures were needed to minimize the chances of data leakage from vendor employees – malicious or otherwise.
With data-centric security provided by Seclore, HDFC Bank is maintaining unprecedented data-centric security for files, which remain persistently secure wherever they travel. The usage controls enforce who can access the information, what they can do with the information, and from which device/location. Information can also be expired at any time – either remotely or with a built-in expiry date. Thus, data can be ‘destroyed’ remotely as soon as it is no longer needed. Using such security measures, the bank can actually enforce the confidentially agreements in practice and achieve compliance with the RBI Gopalakrishna report and the recent RBI guidelines on cybersecurity.
In today’s technology- driven world, by using traditional perimeter-based security tools, there was no way to effectively secure sensitive data from being misused – intentionally or otherwise. Non-banking financial companies such as Magma Fincorp knew they needed to secure data in a data-centric manner, so that files would remain secure wherever they go. Thus, instead of attempting to monitor every single file wherever it goes – Magma Fincorp used Seclore’s EDRM technology to actually keep information secure wherever it goes.
Striving to strengthen its presence beyond its 235 branches across the country, Magma Fincorp covers a wide portfolio of businesses – commercial finance, agricultural finance, SME finance & general insurance. Utilizing The unique implementations, Magma made sure that its data security project had a common management oversight. The project was never treated as an isolated IT project but as a business enabler.
For financial institutions, security is of utmost importance. A major data breach can not only impact revenues but also have drastic long-term effects on brand reputations. Thankfully, companies such as HDFC and Magma understand this and have taken measures to ensure future-proof security with ample support from the likes of Seclore.