The majority of today’s consumers utilize large-scale banks to keep their money safe, manage investments, and provide loans. They expect these facilities to be safe places, not just in a theoretical way that applies to the responsible handling of financial assets but also to visit in person. Unfortunately, securing banks adequately is a very challenging task. Read on to find out about just a few of the challenges associated with providing physical security for the banking industry.
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Need to Secure Multiple Locations
Large-scale banks have multiple branch locations spread across states, countries, or even nations. Each of these branches handles an incredible amount of not just money but also private information and video data. While all large banks allow customers to access their accounts and information from any branch, a task that requires substantial digital infrastructure to accomplish safely, most do not share other forms of data across locations.
Outdated Security Systems
The average person doesn’t realize this, but most banks are still relying on legacy security systems cobbled together over the years from disparate hardware and software sources. This approach is not appropriate in scale given the evolving threats posed to banks by both robbers and cyber criminals. As a result, large banks have been unable to manage their network infrastructure and coordinate security operations from a central location.
Inability to Change with the Times
One of the great things about modern technology is that AI and machine learning have allowed leaders across all industries to gather, analyze, and leverage the power of immensely large datasets. Banks could be doing the same thing to gain insight into areas of their physical security operations that need improvement, but they can’t do so without the infrastructure in place to collect video surveillance and other data from all of their branch locations.
Human Error Still Plagues Post-Event Investigations
When a security event occurs at a bank, everyone from the institution’s security team to the local police generally takes it seriously. They search through hours of video from different on-site cameras to find footage that can be used as evidence. However, no one is perfect, and the human error still leaves essential video footage undiscovered.
Essential information may be misunderstood, and the investigation can stall as a result of a simple mistake. Full security system integration both within each branch and across locations poses an excellent solution because it gives investigators full access to a wide range of technological tools, allowing them to leverage the power of AI and all but eliminate human error.
Cost of Upgrading to New Systems
The problem isn’t that banks’ security officers are unaware of these issues. It’s that most lack the funding to implement full infrastructural changes. The costs associated with installing new software and hardware are just the beginning. Banks also need to end-of-life existing systems, make structural modifications to each location to accommodate new equipment, allocate extra space for servers, and provide new training programs for employees.
What’s the Solution?
The best potential solution to resolving these serious security issues is to migrate to the cloud. Cloud-based video surveillance solutions reduce the costs associated with upgrading to more effective and efficient systems and offer maximum scalability. Migrating to the cloud can also help banks secure data against cyber threats and loss, ensuring that it is safe from tampering and available even when on-premises hardware fails.