LanDynamix Founder and CEO, Peter Clarke.
In South Africa’s financial services sector, executives tasked with data protection are increasingly losing sleep over potentially failing audits and being held liable for data protection oversights. Siloed IT security, AI adoption, the move to cloud and stringent standards and regulations are making it harder for them to maintain visibility and control over their entire environments and increasing their risk.
This is according to Peter Clarke, CEO of LanDynamix – a cyber security solutions and managed services specialist.
Clarke says: “The financial services sector is governed in terms of IT security, so it’s up to the directors and data protection officers of those businesses to make sure the necessary controls are implemented across the board around anything related to data protection. In small and mid-size organisations, you might find a finance person, the HR person or one of the directors taking on the data protection portfolio. But many of these executives are ill equipped to stay on top of cyber security, cyber hygiene and data protection. They often don’t feel confident that they are fully compliant and are deeply concerned about the implications of a potential data breach.”
Clarke says many organisations offering security and compliance services "sell through fear", causing more anxiety for executives in the financial sector. “As a result, they may end up purchasing solutions without fully understanding what they do and whether they really need them,” he says.
He believes what financial services organisations need is expert risk management and full visibility of their environments and risks, with reporting and recommendations presented in a business-friendly format.
“They're looking to managed services providers like LanDynamix, who have the necessary experience and understand what they need to do to be compliant with their industry-specific regulations,” he says.
The LanDynamix compliance and security monitoring managed service for financial services organisations is custom designed to assure compliance, offer full visibility and give data protection officers the peace of mind they need to sleep at night.
LanDynamix supports financial sector compliance by implementing the necessary controls, with monitoring of data movement and access, devices, shadow IT and AI governance, and issues monthly reports plus quarterly reviews to support audit readiness. The managed service starts with intensive discovery to align with each organisation’s needs and is designed to support productivity rather than lock the entire environment down.
Clarke says: “We check whether the client’s business is compliant with applicable legislation and rules, and we assess every risk – from where their data is stored, to who is accessing it. We look at what information is being shared, whether the right controls are in place to prevent unsanctioned sharing and uploading of sensitive data, and we're monitoring the compliance and cyber hygiene of all the devices in the network.”
Because most organisations make use of cloud applications, LanDynamix ensures the cloud environment is monitored 24/7, with an AI platform that identifies any anomalies and unauthorised access attempts, and locks access down, if necessary.
Clarke explains: “Our managed service monthly reports explain what’s happening in their IT environments, what threats have been mitigated, and makes recommendations for improving resilience in terms that everybody can understand. We include user-friendly graphics and charts that relay this information really well. We also have meetings with clients on a quarterly basis to ensure everything is understood and there's nothing else that we need to assess. The service is designed to support the business owner and the executive with a vested interest in that business, and we make sure they can understand it.”
Clients using the managed service sleep better as a result, Clarke says. “They’re no longer afraid of audits and spot checks. They have all the data they need to know precisely what’s happening in their business and make informed decisions on whether they want to go with any recommendations we might make,” he concludes.
