5 ways JSCAPE ensures 24/7/365 security and compliance for banking file transfers

Banking institutions, including commercial, retail and investment banks, frequently exchange files with various trading partners, which typically include customers, clearinghouses, corporate clients, other financial institutions, regulatory authorities and other organizations. Many of these files are crucial to time-sensitive business processes. Most also contain sensitive information, making them subject to governance and data privacy/protection laws and regulations, such as:

• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) 
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Or even the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), when the bank acts as a HIPAA “business associate”

With these stringent corporate and regulatory compliance requirements, banking-related file transfers are best carried out through advanced, automated and highly secure file transfer solutions like JSCAPE by Redwood. Offered as an on-premises server application or a cloud-based service, JSCAPE is a managed file transfer (MFT) solution that enables 24/7/365 secure and compliant file transfers. 

Here are five key ways JSCAPE ensures secure and compliant file transfers for your banking operations. 

• Comprehensive data protection

Certain types of data, such as personally identifiable information (PII), credit card data, confidential customer data and financial data, need to be protected from data breaches and tampering. To protect your organization from these types of threats, JSCAPE offers the following security mechanisms. 

Secure file transfer protocols 

JSCAPE enables you to transfer files through secure protocols, such as Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), File Transfer Protocol over SSL/TLS (FTPS), Applicability Statement 2 (AS2), Odette File Transfer Protocol (OFTP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). These are equipped with data-in-transit encryption and data integrity mechanisms. So, when you transfer files through these protocols, they’ll be protected from network-based data theft and tampering. 

Data-at-rest encryption

As the primary gateway for inbound files, your file transfer solution normally holds a wealth of sensitive information. As such, it’s always a potential target for cyber attacks. To protect stored data from breaches, JSCAPE provides PGP encryption, a security mechanism that prevents hackers from obtaining confidential information even if they manage to compromise your file transfer solution’s storage systems. 

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

With so many data transfers taking place at any given time, it’s humanly impossible to know if sensitive data is falling into the wrong hands. JSCAPE’s DLP feature fixes this. DLP automatically detects sensitive data and takes appropriate action. For example, you can configure DLP to PGP-encrypt files containing credit card data or prevent them from being downloaded by unauthorized user accounts. 

Here’s a sample use case illustrating how these capabilities help retail banks secure their file transfer workflows. 

Retail banking sample use case:

A retail bank needs to handle large volumes of sensitive customer data, such as credit card information, loan application details and utility billing/payment information. The files containing this information are often exchanged with third parties, including payment processors, credit bureaus and utility companies. Due to growing concerns over data breaches and maintaining customer trust, the retail bank uses JSCAPE.

By leveraging JSCAPE’s data-in-transit encryption, data integrity, data-at-rest encryption and DLP capabilities, the bank ensures that all sensitive data remains protected throughout each file transfer process. These initiatives substantially reduce the risk of a data breach and strengthen customer trust. 

Related posts:

How to PGP-encrypt every single file uploaded by a particular user

Using DLP to protect credit card data

• High availability and scalability

As indicated earlier, some file transfers are critical to time-sensitive business processes. If these transfers are interrupted and delayed, they can adversely affect your financial services and other banking processes. If those disruptions happen during peak hours or peak season, your bank may suffer financial, opportunity and reputational losses. 

With JSCAPE, the need for timely and reliable file transfers is easily met. First of all, JSCAPE is equipped with low-code/no-code automation features that allow you to build automated file transfer workflows without writing a single line of code. Combined with JSCAPE’s extensive integration features — which include a robust API and numerous connectors — this capability ensures data transfers can be triggered, processed and completed in real time. 

Additionally, JSCAPE comes with high availability (HA) and scalability functionality, which is designed to minimize delays, disruptions and downtime. High availability clusters distribute inbound traffic to multiple nodes, thereby preventing any single node from getting overloaded. You can add more nodes as needed, so you can easily scale up when demand picks up. 

Commercial banking sample use case

A large commercial bank regularly processes a high volume of file transfers, including account reconciliation files, trade finance documents, credit risk and financial reporting files, interbank settlements and large-scale payroll transactions. These file transfers are governed by strict Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that mandate guaranteed uptime, minimal delays and reliable delivery times.

By leveraging JSCAPE’s automation, HA and scalability capabilities, the commercial bank is not only able to streamline its file transfer operations, but also maintain seamless and reliable file transfers. This ensures consistent SLA compliance, helps avoid penalties and fosters strong relationships with corporate trading partners and regulatory authorities. 

• Proactive cyber threat protection

One of the biggest threats to software, including managed file transfer solutions, is the zero day vulnerability or zero-day. A zero-day is a software vulnerability that the vendor of the affected software is not yet aware of. Notorious cyber threats, including ransomware, advanced persistent threats (APTs) and remote code execution (RCE) attacks, often exploit zero-day vulnerabilities to compromise systems. 

Notably, one of the most high-profile data breaches involving an MFT solution was caused by a zero-day exploit. Unfortunately, when a vendor discovers a zero-day exploit, it’s often after the fact, when damage has already been done. Thus, to effectively mitigate the risk of a zero-day attack, you must adopt proactive security measures.

For example, in JSCAPE, MFT solutions undergo proactive vulnerability scanning and patching. In addition, they’re subjected to third-party security audits that test security features and adherence to compliance standards. These proactive cybersecurity strategies minimize the occurrence of security vulnerabilities, including zero-days. 

General banking use case

A bank learns of a widespread ransomware campaign exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in a widely used MFT solution. This campaign puts organizations using that solution at significant risk. To mitigate this type of threat moving forward, the bank decides to migrate all of its file transfer workflows to JSCAPE. 

This shift not only enables the bank to streamline its file transfer operations and enhance its compliance capabilities, but also take advantage of JSCAPE’s proactive cybersecurity strategies. These strategies help the bank dramatically reduce the risk of zero-day exploits and ransomware infections. 

• Robust access controls and detailed audit trails

In banking file transfers, where sensitive data is frequently exchanged, robust access controls and detailed audit logs are critical for preventing unauthorized access and tracing every action taken within the system. Robust access controls limit system access to authorized users by enforcing mechanisms such as user authentication and granular role-based permissions. 

Detailed audit trails, on the other hand, log every action taken within the system, including logins, file transfers, permission changes and failed access attempts. These logs complement access controls, enabling administrators to detect breaches, track unauthorized attempts and verify compliance with internal policies. If access controls are breached, the audit trails provide the forensic evidence needed to trace suspicious activities and identify security gaps.

In JSCAPE, data and file transfer processes are protected from unauthorized access through robust access controls like multi-factor authentication, IP-based access control and virtual file system permissions. In addition, each file transfer activity is tracked and recorded in detailed logs. 

Multinational banking use case 

To safeguard its data and file transfer workflows, a multinational bank implements JSCAPE MFT’s extensive selection of access controls. This includes multi-factor authentication, IP-based access, virtual file system permissions and others. 

However, during an internal audit, the bank discovers multiple failed login attempts. Although JSCAPE automatically disables the user accounts in question after a certain number of failed attempts, server admins want to dig deeper. After further investigation, the admins realize those attempts originated from an IP address range that was temporarily granted access in the past. Apparently, access wasn’t revoked after the task requiring it was completed. 

The admins resolve the issue by changing the outdated IP-based access rule and implementing a stricter policy to regularly review and update access permissions. Additionally, they configure JSCAPE to generate alerts for disabled accounts due to excessive failed login attempts. This enables faster detection of potential threats in the future.

• 24/7/365 tech support

In large banking institutions, file transfer workflows often take place around the clock. Some transfers cater to branches and trading partners located in different time zones. Others, such as end-of-day reconciliations, overnight payroll transactions and other critical batch processes, are scheduled during off-peak hours to ensure timely completion without affecting day-to-day operations.

When your bank data exchanges operate around the clock, it’s important to partner with an MFT provider that delivers 24/7/365 technical support. That way, if something goes wrong, you’ll be able to receive much-needed assistance regardless of when it happens. To meet this requirement, JSCAPE provides follow-the-sun support. This 24/7/365 service guarantees immediate assistance for customers in need.  

Sample global banking use case

A certain multinational bank operates in multiple regions. During business hours in Europe, the bank processes large volumes of real-time transactions and regulatory data exchanges. Meanwhile, after office hours in the United States, it performs critical batch operations such as end-of-day financial reconciliations, report submissions and cross-border fund settlements. 

One night, a file transfer workflow responsible for delivering payroll data to a major corporate client fails due to a misconfigured server setting. The client expects the payroll data by the next morning, and a delay could lead to reputational damage and non-compliance with contractual obligations. 

Fortunately, the bank’s MFT vendor is JSCAPE, which offers 24/7/365 technical support. The bank’s IT team immediately contacts JSCAPE’s support engineers, who identify and resolve the issue within minutes. This quick response ensures that the payroll data is securely delivered on time, helping the bank maintain compliance, meet client expectations and uphold its reputation with stakeholders.

Conclusion

Secure and compliant file transfers are one of the backbones of modern banking operations. From handling sensitive customer data to meeting strict regulatory requirements, banks need a solution that offers robust security, reliability and operational efficiency. JSCAPE stands out as a comprehensive managed file transfer platform, designed to address the unique challenges of the banking industry. 

With features like secure protocols, automation, high availability, proactive cybersecurity measures, detailed audit trails and 24/7/365 technical support, JSCAPE empowers banks to streamline their data exchanges while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance. By using JSCAPE, your organization can reduce risks, enhance operational efficiency and build stronger relationships with clients, partners and regulatory authorities. 

Would you like to witness firsthand how good JSCAPE is at handling high-stakes cross-border settlements, secure file sharing or day-to-day transactions? Schedule a quick demo now.