The Role of Identity Security in RBL Finserve’s Empowerment of Communities

Summary

In the digital age, where any compromised user; workforce, IT admin, third-party vendor, or developer, can trigger a devastating breach, RBL Finserve stands as a beacon of resilience and innovation. This dynamic financial institution, with its noble mission to empower economically vulnerable and underserved communities, has taken a proactive stance in securing its digital landscape. In a quest to enhance its security posture and simplify audit and compliance, RBL Finserve found that making identity security the center of its cybersecurity strategy would dramatically mitigate the attack vector present in most attacks: compromising credentials and abusing privileges.

Company profile

RBL Finserve operates as a business correspondent for the leading bank of India, RBL Bank. RBL Finserve facilitates financial services and transactions on behalf of RBL Bank, particularly in underserved areas or among economically vulnerable populations. Their offerings are provided through a network of over 945 branches and include loans, savings, and banking services designed to foster economic growth and stability within the communities they serve.

Challenges

RBL Finserve relies on a complex and continuously evolving IT infrastructure to innovate personalized financial solutions for its customers. Protecting its infrastructure is a fundamental element towards business continuity and measure to safeguard the millions of people relying on RBL Finserve.

S K Mohanty, Chief Information Officer at RBL Finserve, explained. “In the face of evolving cyber threats, our commitment to preserve the trust of our customers led us to rethink traditional security measures. We realized that in a world where digital identities are proliferating and privilege boundaries are fully circumvented, adopting a zero-trust approach with time-based access would dramatically reduce the attack surface.”

The advent of cloud technologies and remote work patterns combined with higher outsourcing of services to third-party vendors introduced new vulnerabilities into RBL Finserve’s operations. Traditional perimeter-based security measures were no longer sufficient. It became clear that a new approach was needed.

To embark on this journey, RBL Finserve conducted an internal audit to find areas of improvement. Aimed to elevate its excellent audit record to even higher standards, the initial goal was adding all the security layers possible to ensure a no password leakage capability for its privileged users. The goal evolved as the team realized that any type of digital identity can be a potential gateway to sensitive customer data and critical infrastructure.

Solutions

In response to these challenges, RBL Finserve embarked on a comprehensive evaluation of the threat landscape. The company sought a partner that could help them implement the right levels of privilege controls across its infrastructure. CyberArk emerged as the ideal partner thanks to its unified identity security platform, decades of innovation protecting privileged access, and unique capabilities to protect every type of identity, human or machine.

RBL Finserve’s collaboration with CyberArk led to the implementation of multiple solutions. Foundational privileged controls were adopted to protect IT administrators, such as isolating and monitoring privileged sessions, and continuously rotating credentials. To drive the adoption of these new controls and enable a positive user experience for its workforce, RBL Finserve implemented CyberArk’s Single Sign-On (SSO) and adaptive multifactor authentication (MFA) capabilities. This strategic move laid a strong foundation for the future expansion of intelligent privilege controls across all human identities, workforce users, IT admins, developers, and third-party vendors. Offering users an easy way to access their target systems enables the organization to, in the back end, protect its access and credentials.

“By partnering with CyberArk, we have fortified our digital landscape with innovative identity security solutions. This strategic alliance has enhanced our cybersecurity posture and seamlessly integrated with our mission to empower communities with responsible financial services.”

–S K Mohanty, Chief Information Officer at RBL Finserve

Bringing these multiple identity security controls into one platform has significantly enhanced operational efficiencies. RBL Finserve’s goal is to consolidate all types of access within CyberArk’s platform, allowing more users to enjoy a better way to access their systems while ensuring that all access is protected with the proper privilege controls.

Results

As a result of these initiatives, RBL Finserve has strengthened the security of the teams and systems, continuously innovating solutions to meet customer needs. The company has successfully kept its customers’ data and day-to-day operations safe, reinforcing the trust that is so crucial in the financial services industry.

RBL Finserve was able to enforce least privilege policies, monitor privileged sessions, and detect and respond to threats in nearly real-time. The CyberArk Identity Security Platform has enabled RBL Finserve to integrate a security-first mindset into its digital transformation initiatives, ensuring that every new technology being introduced is aligned with its security standards.

“The results speak for themselves – a robust cybersecurity framework centered on identity security has set a new benchmark for digital trust and safety. Our proactive measures protect our business and reinforce the foundation of trust that RBL Finserve is built upon.”

–S K Mohanty, Chief Information Officer at RBL Finserve

By addressing multiple compliance requirements spelled out by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Reserve Bank of India, RBL Finserve has elevated the security standards within its organization. Similarly, the company’s comprehensive identity security strategy, centered on privileged access, has positioned RBL Finserve as a leading organization, influencing the broader industry to adopt similar measures.

Key benefits

• RBL Finserve elevated its cybersecurity, safeguarding customer data and business continuity against evolving threats.
• Customer trust was reinforced, solidifying RBL Finserve’s reputation as a secure financial service provider.
• Operational efficiencies were achieved, maintaining an exemplary audit record through advanced security measures.