Credit Unions must contend with the same unrelenting fraud attempts by sophisticated cyber threat actors as their banking counterparts. However, they often must tackle these challenges with far fewer resources and higher expectations from their members.

According to a report from the Boston Consulting Group, financial services firms are 300 times as likely as other companies to experience a cyberattack. Credit unions must find ways to prevent cyberattacks and the associated reputational damage that often accompanies such attacks.

To complicate matters further, credit unions operate under a microscope of regulatory scrutiny from the NCUA. Deviating from federal, local, or state rules and guidelines can attract the attention of regulators as well as increase the risk of penalties, fines, and additional government oversight. Navigating the growing number of cybersecurity-related regulations is one of the biggest challenges facing credit unions today.

Arctic Wolf has developed a step-by-step checklist for credit unions to develop a cybersecurity strategy. This checklist includes the essential elements of cybersecurity that credit unions and other financial services firms need to adopt to stay ahead of sophisticated attacks.

Louis Evans is senior product marketing manager at Arctic Wolf.