Best Practices for Data Security in Banking: Navigating DSPM

“With the increasing amount of sensitive data flowing through our systems, banking institutions must stay one step ahead by not just reacting to breaches but proactively managing data exposure,” Fred Hamilton, CISO at BHG Financial, emphasized during a recent panel discussion. 

As cyber threats escalate and regulations tighten, the banking industry faces mounting pressure to secure sensitive data across increasingly complex environments. In a panel hosted by Spirion, industry leaders Fred Hamilton (CISO at BHG Financial), Sean Steele (Co-Founder of Infolock), and Ryan Tully (Chief Product Officer at Spirion) shared strategies for overcoming the unique data security challenges in banking. 

Banks today are grappling with a multi-cloud world where sensitive data is scattered across on-premise systems, cloud environments, and endpoint devices. This fragmentation creates significant challenges around managing permissions, ensuring compliance with evolving regulations, and preventing data leakage across borders. 

Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) offers critical capabilities to address these challenges by providing deep visibility into where sensitive data resides, who has access to it, and how it is being used. This data-centric approach allows banks to not only discover and classify sensitive data but also monitor and mitigate risks in real-time, applying controls that go beyond traditional network and endpoint protections. 

The panel highlighted four banking-specific challenges that DSPM can help address: 

1. Sensitive Data at Rest: “Ransomware targets data at rest, and without DSPM, we were blind to many of our vulnerabilities,” Hamilton noted. DSPM gives banks visibility into sensitive data stored across their infrastructure, ensuring it is protected from external threats. 

2. Zero-Trust Architecture: DSPM supports Zero Trust frameworks by continuously monitoring access to sensitive data. “DSPM lets you monitor access and usage of sensitive data continuously, which is key to Zero Trust,” Tully explained. 

3. Regulatory Compliance: With regulatory scrutiny intensifying, the ability to generate compliance reports instantly was seen as a major advantage of DSPM. Steele added, “DSPM enables you to generate compliance reports instantly, which is crucial during audits.” Learn more about how DSPM supports compliance efforts. 

4. Incident Response: The panelists agreed that DSPM reduces incident response times significantly by offering immediate insights into compromised data during breaches. 

To implement DSPM successfully, the panelists shared four key recommendations: 

1. Start with Comprehensive Data Discovery: Knowing where sensitive data resides is the first step to protecting it. “We can’t protect what we can’t see,” said Tully. For more on data discovery, check out Spirion’s Sensitive Data Discovery Solutions. 

2. Automate Compliance Processes: DSPM automates compliance workflows, reducing manual effort and ensuring continuous adherence to regulatory requirements. 

3. Prioritize High-Risk Data: Focusing on the most sensitive data first helps banks reduce risk quickly and efficiently. 

4. Integrate DSPM with Existing Tools: “DSPM doesn’t need to replace your existing security stack; it integrates and enhances what’s already there,” Tully noted. 

However, the panel stressed that success in securing sensitive data requires more than just visibility. A holistic approach that integrates DSPM with other security measures—such as data access governance (DAG), encryption, and proactive monitoring of anomalous behaviors—is essential. By combining DSPM with these tools, banks can better manage modern data environments, maintain compliance, and reduce the risk of costly breaches. 

In an era of escalating cyber threats, adopting a robust, multi-layered data security strategy is no longer optional—it’s a necessity. DSPM plays a pivotal role in this strategy by providing unparalleled insight into sensitive data and enabling proactive risk management. As banks look to the future, they must continuously evolve their security practices to protect what matters most: the trust of their customers. 

For more information on how DSPM can enhance your bank’s security posture, explore our financial solutions and start your journey toward proactive data protection today.