With an illustrious career dedicated to safeguarding digital landscapes, Brian Vlootman, CISO at Backbase’s journey, unveils the intricate tapestry of challenges and triumphs that define modern cybersecurity leadership.
Let’s explore the milestones and insights that have shaped Brian’s path in the ever-evolving security field.
Tell us how you got into the field of technology and cybersecurity. What has your journey been like?
I have dedicated my entire career to IT, constantly pursuing new technologies and deeper understanding within various domains. My journey began in 1999 as a systems engineer, evolving through roles such as database administrator, network engineer, storage engineer, virtualization engineer, and, ultimately, infrastructure architect.
Although security was always an element of my work, 2010 I delved into the vast domain of information security, a shift greatly enriched by my diverse IT background.
Starting as a penetration tester, my career trajectory in security led me to incident handling, digital forensics, and serving as an information security officer. My broad experience across IT and security fields has instilled a perpetual thirst for knowledge, with cybersecurity’s ever-expanding scope providing endless learning opportunities and challenges.
My affinity for cybersecurity also reflects my personality; I thrive on solving complex puzzles and devising innovative solutions to unique security challenges. Moreover, I’m driven by the potential to make a significant impact, understanding that advancing security solutions benefits nearly everyone in our digitally interconnected world.
By 2017, I had become the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Backbase. My comprehensive approach to cybersecurity — not merely as a technical challenge but as an integral part of strategic business operations — aims to foster a security-aware culture within organisations. Especially within the banking sector, where the stakes are exceptionally high, my work emphasizes protecting sensitive data, ensuring regulatory compliance, and countering sophisticated threats, all while building trust with customers and stakeholders.
How has cybersecurity as a space changed and transformed in a post-pandemic world?
In the post-pandemic world, banking cybersecurity has undergone a seismic shift. The exponential rise in cybercrime costs, reaching $8 trillion in 2023, reflects the profound impact of the pandemic-induced digitization of banking operations.
As institutions raced to adapt to remote work environments, vulnerabilities in remote ways of working became glaringly apparent. This necessitated a fundamental reevaluation of security protocols and strategies.
Cybersecurity has evolved from a necessity to a strategic imperative, requiring proactive investment in robust defence mechanisms and threat intelligence. Additionally, there’s a growing emphasis on fostering a culture of cybersecurity awareness among employees and customers. Recognising cybersecurity as a collective responsibility is crucial in mitigating risks in the digital age.
In this new era, the post-pandemic banking landscape demands a holistic approach to cybersecurity integration. By embracing this transformation, institutions can build resilience against continuously evolving threats and safeguard themselves in an increasingly interconnected world.
What has AI’s impact been in the cybersecurity space, and how can it help build better security systems?
It’s evident that attackers use AI to build more sophisticated attacks, reduce the cost of an attack, and reduce the time it takes to exploit newly identified vulnerabilities. Defenders must unlock AI’s value in building detection capabilities to identify the initial compromise as early as possible. Ignoring AI means giving the attacker an advantage.
AI is also leveraged in social engineering attacks, helping to build extremely convincing fake personas with technology that has now become mainstream. Even with technologies that can identify AI-generated voice and video emerging, we cannot rely anymore on technologies that use voice or video for authentication.
There is a huge potential in using AI to build more secure software and systems. Examples that can be leveraged today are AI solutions guiding developers to write secure code and using AI to build a threat model based on developer conversations.
What should organisations keep in mind in 2024 while looking at cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity transcends individual bank departments, becoming a shared responsibility across the enterprise. Banks holding critical data face substantial threats from attackers targeting their applications and infrastructure, jeopardizing confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
The ramifications for banks are significant:
- Operational Disruption: Cyberattacks disrupt normal banking operations, causing service outages and impacting customer transactions and online services.
- Financial Loss: Attacks result in direct fund theft and indirect costs like remediation and reputation damage.
- Customer Trust: Successful attacks undermine trust in a bank’s security, leading to customer attrition.
- Regulatory Consequences: Failure to comply with regulations leads to legal repercussions and increased scrutiny.
To mitigate these risks, banks must heavily invest in cybersecurity, employing advanced threat detection, encryption, employee training, and regular audits. The threat landscape is evolving rapidly, necessitating ongoing efforts by financial institutions to stay ahead of cyber threats. Organizations need a balanced approach with digital, frictionless journeys fraud mitigation systems and behavioural intelligence to combat fraud.
What, in your estimation, are the top five trends in the cyber security space?
The threat landscape in 2024 confronts banks with continuously evolving and increasingly sophisticated attacks. As long as the business case for cybercrime remains profitable, attacks such as ransomware or phishing will only increase. Banks must address the following aspects:
Customer Identity & Access Management: Implement secure, phishing-resistant passwordless options for enhanced user experience and security. Avoid technologies that AI can spoof.
Use Behavioral Intelligence: To build a user profile based on behaviour and contextual data points, creating a risk score to make informed decisions.
Use of Artificial Intelligence: To enhance threat detection and response and assist developers in creating secure software in all aspects of the SDLC.
Third-party software assurance: Banks are increasingly being attacked indirectly by bad actors targeting trusted third-party vendors. Emerging software transparency and security standards, such as SBOMs, will become mandatory.
Fraud continues to evolve and sometimes leverages and exploits digital frictionless journeys in novel ways. Banks need to find a balance between introducing controls to combat fraud and reducing friction for customers. A risk-based approach using strong CIAM, Behavioral Intelligence, and AI is advised.
