Information Security Measures at JP Morgan Chase

JP Morgan Chase

Introduction

JP Morgan Chase one of the banking oldest and must renowned in the industry. There are not many financial corporation with such a historical perspective such as JP Morgan Chase.  What is very interesting and makes for a good bit of trivia is the fact that JP Morgan Chase is one of the world’s oldest, largest and best known financial institutions. As per historical records and what they list on their website they indicate that they started their company in the year 1799, back in New York. They claimed that the secret to their success has a great deal to do with the fact they have to take the time to really listening to their customer’s needs (JP Morgan Chase, 2009). The fact is that during Morgan’s era, and during the time the United States did not have an established central bank, Mr. Morgan himself used his influence to save the nation form a disastrous economic crisis. Also, important to note in 1895 Morgan help in rescuing America’s gold standard when he loaned the government more than 60 million (History.com, 2009). One cannot be helped but to think that Mr. Morgan was what you call a true patriot, he really demonstrated with his actions how much he cared for his country. Also one of the very interesting facts is that they are or have offices in well over 50 countries worldwide. (JP Morgan Chase, 2009). Also refers to the fact that they JPMorgan Chase & Co. has been built on the foundation of more than 1,000 predecessor institutions that have come together over the years to form today’s company. For example, J.P. Morgan & Co., The Chase Manhattan Bank, Bank One, Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co., Chemical Bank, The First National Bank of Chicago, just to name a few and occurs is important to point out that all of it is tied to the growth of the United States and Global economy. In the 90’s the company had a great deal of innovation, some started even earlier for example in 1985, The Chase Manhattan Bank launched its electronic home banking service, called Spectrum, which not only permitted banking transactions but also allowed customers to buy and sell stocks through a discount broker affiliated with Chase. But the biggest deal in the 1990’s was that during that period the corporation had an overwhelming number of mergers and consolidation with the banking industry and the numbers of banks In the U.S decline, however the number of branches and automated teller machines continue to increase providing the consumers with more banking than ever (JP Morgan Chase, 2009). Corporations such as JP Morgan Chase don’t make it to where they are now without experiencing their many share of challenges and obstacles. From the security perspective they faced many of threats and still do, not only know but historically they have been able to formulate and establish solid security measures to protect their customers and their assets. Next we will take a close look at the way a giant corporations survives financial devastation and withstands the presents and prepares for the future. We will also see how security professionals prepared and learned to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Back in 2008, JP Morgan had their sight in Bear Stearns who was at the weakest point and about to fail. The Federal Reserve Bank decided to give the firm help as a last minute deal by given them millions to prevent them from going under. JP Morgan took advantage of the situation and bought the company. JP Morgan was responsible for some of the alleged misdeeds on its own. One of the firms most heavily involved in this business of packaging and reselling subprime mortgage-backed securities was Bear Stearns, then the fifth-largest U.S. investment bank. One of the most active retail mortgage lenders was Washington Mutual. What is really ironic is how the founder of JP Morgan saves the government from failure and years later the government ends up helping and bailing them out of a critical situation, even though they ended up having to settle for negligence and the end of the day they remain strong as they ever been.

JP Morgan Chase is one of the largest financial organizations in the world. A corporation such as these one does not get to last of this time without facing hard times and many conflicts. Although they have plenty of resources they have been exposed to risks and threats from those who which to undermine them. In the summer of 2014, a cyber-attack compromised over 76 million households and seven million businesses. After reviewing the information, the bank determines that the intrusion of the data has been deeming one of the largest ever. Silver-Greenber & Goldstain (2014) shared how consumer confidence was at an all-time low based on issues with the digital operation of corporate America. Amongst those affected we can count retailers like Target, Home Depot and others that sustained major data breaches. The fact that a bank like JPMorgan, as the largest bank in the nation, has financial information in its computer systems that go beyond customers’ credit card details and potentially includes more sensitive data.  The fact is that initially, they believe that only a million account had been affected, to find out later that the severity of the intrusion began early June and was not discovered until July. When JP Morgan Security Team first discovers the problem, they were not only surprised but very concern that even though no customer financial information was taken, the apparent breadth and depth of the JPMorgan attack shows how vulnerable Wall Street institutions are to cybercrime (Silver-Greenber & Goldstain, 2014). These types of cyber-attack came to open everyone’s eyes in the banking industry since they had viewed and believe themselves to be safe from this type of attacks. JP Morgan Chase releases information in their quarterly report stating that the firm is going to, or a list is planning on beefing up cybersecurity and the cost will come at around half a billion dollars. Their leadership more specifically those involved in IT believe that they have to address tomorrow’s security concerns today and not regret later that actions never considered and security measure never implemented. Morgan (2016) make reference to the fact by making a statement that they must have the ability of the Firm to maintain the security of its financial, accounting, technology, data processing, and other operating systems and facilities. Also, that they must have the ability of the Firm to effectively defend itself against cyber-attacks and other attempts by unauthorized parties to access the Firm’s information or disrupt its systems.

JP Morgan Chase has implemented several security measures to protect client’s information. As victims of cyber-attacks they had to endure and learned the hard way. In the last several years corporation like JP Morgan Chase have found themselves coming under sharp scrutiny, as stated by Bernstein (2018) The fact is that at that time the firm has been exposed and they were facing issues their digital security had been compromise and tampered with customers information had been compromise and they were facing serous screnuity. More than anything else, these publicized hacks have illuminated how extensive cybercrime threats are to businesses, and just how challenging they can be to prevent. JP Morgan Chase have taken a proactive approach to protecting information and they tell the public how are they do it. They claimed to have strict guidelines and even every time they talk to customers they making verified in many different way to ensure they are indeed the genuine account holders. In other worlds they are going back to the basics building an aggressive and robust protection system and can filter multiple types of attacks to customer’s information. Chase (n.d) makes a good point informing bank customers how they are protecting their accounts and mentioning the multiple authentication checks. This multistep process helps us protect your accounts and lets us recognize your device the next time you sign in. For extra security, we might ask you to do this again when you enroll in or start using new products (for example, our wire transfer service).   

One interesting way that they are asking customers to monitor chase.com profile to help us detect fraud as early as possible. They might call the customer to see if they notice a change in your online activity, but we’ll never ask you for personal information over the phone, such as your mother’s maiden name or Social Security Number. If for wherever reason they are not able to get in touch with the customer they may place the account in a temporary hold until they can verify that the activity is being generated by the customer and not an intruder. Again JP Morgan’s Chase goal is to maintain the security level and protect their financial, accounting, technology, data processing and other operating systems and facilities, and occurs be able to effectively defend against any type of cyber-attacks that attempt to gain access to information and disrupt operations.

In recent years we have seen big financial giants like JP Morgan Chase beef up their security measures while implementing some robust security programs to protect customers information and to protect their intellectual property and trade secrets. Kelly (2018) claims that the volume and variety of cyber threats today across all sectors and industries. In today world we are faced and with more threats, not only are organizations at risk but also the, federal, state and local governments are now been target. Hackers, as well as other type cyber criminals, including foreign corporation and even foreign governments are trying to undermine and steal if not manipulate sensitive data and trade secrets. As we see cyberattacks on the rise, we are also seen organizaiion and government institution networks beef up their security they have to also protect themselves from attacks of people wanting to gain access to sensitive personal information of customer, occurs employees, the other issues is to also protect the firms intellectual information’s as is been constantly target. Many of this challenges that agencies are currently facing require security professionals that are ready to deal with cybersecurity and that know how to strategize and implement t security measure necessary to protect the organization. As agencies begin to identify threats and vulnerabilities, they would need to become more proactive and realize that the cost of security is now part of the cost of doing business, and investing in risk management, and establishing a strong security plan is now a must. Organization must constantly examine new way of mitigation and must continually assess their security measures in order to create stronger and more resilient cybersecurity plan. In May of 2017, President Trump signed an executive order to improve cybersecurity of the federal networks and critical infrastructure. As more legislation is call for these order answer the call as organization and government agencies need to look for ways to manage threats and to minimize risk, and approach cyber threats like a plain act of aggression. As laws and regulation begin to align with industry standards organization as well as government entities must figure out the best way to handle and to reduce risk. , given that there is no single tactic or tool that can guarantee data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. At the end of the day what the government is saying is now saying that organization must improve protection and try to have a multilayer system to protect networks vulnerabilities and to allow the professionals in the industry the time to detect and prevent such cyber-attacks from causing the type harm that we have been seen in recent years. One thing to always keep in mind is that those that want to causes harm are constantly working and finding new ways to circumvent security, so the cyber management efforts in our organization has to be better prepared to handle these type of treats, security professionals need to have that awareness and try to be two steps ahead of the game .

In May of 2017, President Trump signed an executive order to improve cybersecurity of the federal networks and critical infrastructure. The order calls for a risk management approach to address cyber threats. This is in line with industry standards and best practices to reduce risk, given that there is no single tactic or tool that can guarantee data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. At the end of the day what the government is saying is that Rather than focusing all resources on keeping bad actors out of a network, organizations should adopt a layered, risk-based suite of tools, policies, training, and ongoing assessments to make systems more secure and attempts to obtain data easier to spot. Even as threats change, there are four hallmark components of any effective cyber risk management effort.

JP Morgan Chase is one of the oldest giants in the financial institution arena, As a global provider of financial advisory and lending services for clients in various sectors and geographies around the world, we recognize that our business decisions have the potential to impact surrounding communities and the environment.  JP Morgan (n.d.) shares how in the last few years they have become more in touch with protecting their information as well as the many risks and the constant threats they are facing. Therefore, they established and adopted its first comprehensive Environmental and Social Risk Policy (E&S Risk Policy) in 2005. The Sustainable Finance and Global Environmental and Social Risk Management (GESRM) teams partner closely in the implementation of the E&S Risk Policy and serve as the lead resources to the Firm on E&S issues. This Environmental and Social Policy Framework outlines the key elements of JPMorgan Chase’s E&S Risk Policy, articulates the Firm’s approach to key issues such as human rights, climate change, forests, and biodiversity, and describes the Firm’s initiatives to manage its operational footprint in a sustainable manner. More recently in July of 2017, JP Morgan Chase announced an expansion of its comprehensive strategy to advance environmentally sustainable solutions for clients and its own operations. The firms decided to make some changes as they updated their strategic goals and decided to promote a better understanding of how to improve their business practices. First they want to ensure their customers they can rest assure that they are doing wherever it takes to protect their personal information and their assets, that they can now feel safe that JP Morgan has their back.  Also they want everyone to know that as they move forward and implement their new plans they are doing it with the upmost respect for the environment and with the longevity and sustainability of the business. They claimed that their new plans take into account cleans ways to integrate and have consideration for the environmental and human concerns as they take into account the many issues that face the financial decision-making processes. Communication is been one of their greater tools and therefore their plans include transparency with stakeholders and how this is a key part establishing mechanisms that promotes a better understanding. Chase has ongoing plan to have a new and improve organism to minimize the risks and the potential impact to the business, as they want to see engagements and inclusiveness. The corporation is committed to the implementation of environmental and social sustainability and plan to go well beyond their goals. There is a sense of urgency and a need to change and to become innovative and to create security measure dedicated to protecting financial resources. The fact is that supporting the eco system is a priority to Chase as they care to preserve the environments in the same way they care about their customers and the financial market. The scale in which they have chosen to participate only shows and displays their wiliness to continue to be a leader in not only the banking industry but to preserve our cities. JP Morgan financial resources are dedicated to the protection of natural ecosystems in our cities and local communities advocating for clean water, clean air and quality of life. JPMorgan Chase provided founding and sponsorship for NatureVest, an initiative, they want to help to promote and encourage conservancy, their vision is to help to t to attract investment capital and to ensure the industry continues to show improvement. The purpose of supporting and creating a platform for research. There is no question that JP Morgan Chase wants to promote innovation and create a sense of security in the financial industry, and one way to accomplish this is by showing the world that they care about mother earth and what better way to do it is by taking action directly in the environment by try to support those that have goals to presser it. 

As companies such as JP Morgan transition throughout their many faces, security professionals need to be ready and able to help to implement their vision. Financial institutions have always face treats, and they had always had to endure shortcoming. For those organizations like JP Morgan Chase security has always been part of doing business. From protecting the Stage coach in the early years to banks and institution safety, they had to protect their assets and their customers for generations. As times change the threats, risks, and vulnerabilities may look a bit different but the goal to protect remains the same. For those of us that work in the security industry, and have decided to further our education by perusing a Master of Science in Security Administration, I can say that we began a journey together and along the way we were able to collect the tool necessary to perform our jobs responsibilities in the world that we leave today, dealing with acts of terror, cybercrimes and many other threats facing not only the financial industry but our nations as a whole.

References

• Bernstein, S. (2018). 3 Steps to Improve Your Cyber Security: Protect your business with these cybercrime prevention strategies. Retrieved November 28, 2018, from: https://commercial.jpmorganchase.com/country/US/EN/commercial-banking/executive-connect/preventing-cybercrime
• Chase (n.d.). Security Center. We work Hard to protect your information. Retrieved November 28, 2018, from: https://www.chase.com/digital/resources/privacy-security
• History.com Editors (2009). JP Morgan. Retrieved November 13, 2018, from:   https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/john-pierpont-morgan
• J.P. Morgan Chase (2008). The History of JP Morgan Chase & Co: 200 years in Leadership in Banking. Retrieved November 13, 2018, from:  https://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/About-JPMC/document/shorthistory.pdf
• Kelly, M. (2018). Cyber Threats to the Public Sector. Retrieved December 5, 2018, from: https://commercial.jpmorganchase.com/pages/commercial-banking/industry-expertise/threat-public-sector
• Lake, M. (2018, February). JP Morgan Chase Strategic Update. Retrieved December 5, 2018, from: https://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/investor-relations/document/3cea4108_strategic_update.pdf
• Tett, G. (2009). Fool’s Gold: How the Bold Dream of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe. NY. Simon and Schuster. Retrieved November 13, 2018, from: https://books.google.com/books?id=9aQOCMEI7m8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false