As Mike Riegel pointed out in his recent blog, 'Financial services is the prime example of an IT-intensive industry.' Financial institutions rely on consistent technology and innovation to compete and to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Customers put a lot of trust in their financial services provider to secure their data and privacy.

On the other hand, cyber criminals put financial institutions in their sights in efforts that, when successful, can damage customer trust and an institution's reputation. Financial institutions around the world are targets for malware, phishing, ransomware, and ATM skimming. The most serious losses come from targeted attacks. According to the Cisco2016 Annual Security Report, malware is becoming increasingly sophisticated and cyber criminals are launching attacks through a variety of attack vectors, including tools that users trust or view as benign. Furthermore, targeted attacks are on the rise and the cyber criminals are unrelenting in the execution their mission.

How can financial services institutions protect themselves from today's threat landscape? I hope you'll join me @leniselvaggio on the upcoming #CiscoChat to tackle that question onTuesday, February 23rd at 1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PST. Together, we'll consider such questions as:

-Are there technologies to prevent breaches?

-What do financial institutions need to do to be more agile in their security infrastructure?

-Is there such a thing as too many security tools?

During our upcoming#Ciscochat, myself and my @CiscoSecurity colleagues, Stephen Marchewitz and Dmitry Kuchynski will be joined by IDC Security Analyst, Christian Christiansen and IDC Research Director, Bill Fearnley, Jr in this live, thought-provoking discussion on how digital business models impact security interests and other inherent risks for financial institutions.

Join the live conversation on Twitter here Tuesday, February 23^rd, at 1:00 PM EST / 10:00 AM PSTto learn how to better detect threats and defend your institution. Whether you want to join in the chat or just listen to the discussion, it promises to be a lively and informative hour. Follow #CiscoFSI as you don't want to miss this.

To participate in the chat:

• Make sure you're logged onto your Twitter account.
• Search for #CiscoChat, and click on the Live tab.
• The @CiscoFSI handle is the moderator and will welcome guests and post questions starting at 1PM EST/10AM PST.
• Please submit your answers in the following format: ex. A1: Write Answer.#CiscoChat