CASE STUDIES

Solution Bank chooses Cyber Guru

Overview

SOLUTION BANK is an innovative reality, combining the services and products of a boutique bank dedicated to families, individuals and entrepreneurs with those of a corporate & investment bank dedicated to Corporate clients. It is a traditional bank because it offers investment and asset management solutions to its clients and now has 160 employees and 9 branches, as well as two representative offices in Milan and Modena.

The challenge

Today Solution Bank, while maintaining its historical identity as a retail institution, has opened up to corporate finance and the world of impaired loan restructuring particularly NPLs and UTPs. 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.

The solution

In order to make all staff aware of the importance of following best practices in security and to bring a real security culture into the Institute, not only a technology-based defensive model was adopted, but also an effective approach of knowledge and awareness by all. To meet this need, Solution Bank chose the Cyber Guru platform about 4 years ago.

“For our own peace of mind and that of our customers.”

Solution Bank, formerly Credito di Romagna, after a difficult period that began in 2010 in which the institution was placed under receivership, saw a real rebirth in 2018 when Hong Kong-based SC LOWY Fund purchased Credito di Romagna’s banking license, refinancing the bank and reorganizing the entire institution.

Today Solution Bank manages a large amount of sensitive data and as a result has 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 clients’ data safe and to the stringent regulations to which we are subject, including Bank of Italy Circular 285 and the whole world of GDPR, which expressly demand that banks structure a training plan in the area of cyber security,” 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.”

Solution Bank’s achievements

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.”

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.”

To read the full interview and learn more, click here