Solution Bank chooses Cyber Guru
“For our own peace of mind and that of our customers.”
“Crisis is the best thing that can happen to people and whole countries because it is precisely crisis that brings progress. It is in the crisis that inventiveness, discoveries and great strategies are born.” Speaking this way was not just anyone, but Albert Einstein. “Without crisis,” the great scientist wrote again, “there are no challenges, and without challenges life is routine, a slow agony. Without crisis there are no merits. (…) The only threatening crisis is the tragedy of not wanting to fight to overcome it…”
Many have been inspired by these words and have turned difficult times into new opportunities. This is the case, for example, of Solution Bank, formerly Credito di Romagna, which, after a difficult period that began in 2010 when the institution was placed under receivership, saw a real rebirth in 2018 when the Hong Kong-based SC LOWY Fund purchased Credito di Romagna’s banking license, refinancing the bank and reorganizing the entire institution.
Today, Solution Bank, while maintaining its historical identity as a retail institution with a focus on private customers, the household and small business economy, has opened up to corporate finance and the world of restructuring impaired loans, particularly NPLs (Non-Performing Loans) and UTPs (Unlikely to Pay).
An expansion that has led the Institute to handle a large amount of sensitive data and consequently to put in place all defense strategies on the cyber security front, starting with the training of all staff.
“A choice due both to the desire to keep our customers’ data safe and to the stringent regulations we are subject to, including Bank of Italy Circular 285 and the whole world of GDPR, which specifically require banks to structure a training plan in the area of cybersecurity,” explains Lucrezia Magarotto, of Solution Bank’s Human Resources and Communications Office.
“The choice fell, about four years ago, on Cyber Guru,” says Magarotto, “because we wanted to raise awareness among our employees about the importance of following best practices in security. Above all, we wanted a real security culture to enter our bank, not just a defensive technological model, then, but a real approach of knowledge and awareness on the part of everyone. A strengthening of the digital posture of the whole institution because we know very well that the weakest link in the security chain still remains the human factor.”
“The technological evolution of the last few years,” Magarotto further said, “has made it necessary to upgrade training to enable employees to keep up with the ever-changing world of technology. And Cyber Guru’s training platform has fully met this need. And then, of course, the need to keep our bank’s reputation high. Our customers need to know that we are putting in place the most cutting-edge actions to keep their data safe.”
The advantages of the training method
According to the colleague from the Office of Human Resources and Communications, what differentiates Cyber Guru from other training platforms is the organization of courses built on the different levels of knowledge and experience of each user, which makes training extremely personalized. “In addition,” says Magarotto, “Cyber Guru uses a hands-on, experiential and interactive approach that simulates real attack scenarios and, because of this, is a very effective method of learning.
Lucrezia Magarotto also talks about the advantage offered by the flexibility of Cyber Guru’s training method, “structured in short lessons that everyone can choose to take whenever they want but at the same time are always different and up-to-date considering that a new slot on a different topic comes out every month.”
Last, but certainly not least, important involvement comes from Gamification. “This novel approach,” says Magarotto, “develops a healthy competition among the various teams that increases everyone’s involvement and attention on a general level.
The results in Solution Bank are very visible. “There has been a general growth in attention and awareness over the years with respect to the issue of security. By now everyone, even those who used to be less sensitive to this issue, is now very attentive to password management, to the e-mails they receive, and to any sign that they might be hiding an attack. That, however, fortunately, until today, there has not been one.”
