Protect Your Digital Channels: Application Security for Financial Services and Government

With the move to online services, applications are now the primary way you communicate with your customers. But this shift to digital channels means it’s critical to keep your apps secure to maintain trust.

The growing number of cyberattacks in the Caribbean is making it harder to keep your apps and data secure. Jamaica recorded approximately 4 million attempted attacks in the first half of 2024,1 and research has found that financial institutions and government agencies are the top attacker targets in the region.2 Let’s take a closer look at app security challenges and how you can overcome them.

More Apps, More Challenges

The Caribbean is experiencing rapid digital transformation to improve customer experiences, efficiency, and cost savings. The public sector, especially, is undergoing massive change, increasing from digital adoption rates of 35% in 2021 to a projected 75% in 2025.3 This fast pace of modernization complicates the cybersecurity landscape. You're managing legacy applications alongside containerized microservices, while your development teams are navigating new technologies like Kubernetes and multi-cloud.

Even with strong security for traditional on-premises applications, you may struggle to protect sensitive data in your new cloud-native services that are both more difficult to secure and subject to different attacks. A security incident could result in financial losses, service disruptions, or reputational damage that erodes trust and undermines your digital transformation efforts. Regulatory compliance is also a concern, as security failures carry significant compliance penalties.

Move Beyond Perimeter Security

Your application security needs an upgrade to handle increasing threats and complexity. Perimeter-based security is now a thing of the past, which is why we work with F5 to secure your apps consistently, regardless of where they're deployed.

For your customer-facing applications, web application firewalls (WAFs), bot defense, and DDoS attack prevention capabilities protect against threats targeting financial services and government portals. These security layers keep applications available when they’re needed and help prevent costly fraud.

F5's API security ensures your backend services—the ones processing sensitive financial data or citizen information—remain protected. As you build more interconnected digital services, API security becomes crucial for maintaining the integrity of your entire digital ecosystem. If you’re considering AI adoption, defending your APIs will only become more important.

As a SaaS-delivered platform (that also works on premises), F5® Distributed Cloud Services secure your apps and APIs everywhere with a single management console and consistent policies. This not only increases your protection against threats but also reduces the effort needed to manage your app security.