Migrating to AWS Core Banking Architecture for Enhanced Security

Migrating to AWS Core Banking Architecture can significantly improve the security of your banking system.

This architecture uses a microservices-based design, which allows for greater flexibility and scalability.

With AWS Core Banking Architecture, you can also take advantage of AWS's robust security features, such as encryption and access controls.

In addition, AWS Core Banking Architecture provides a highly available and resilient architecture, which minimizes the risk of downtime and data loss.

This architecture is designed to be highly scalable, allowing your banking system to grow and adapt to changing customer needs.

AWS Core Banking Architecture also provides a secure and compliant platform for your banking system, meeting the stringent security and regulatory requirements of the banking industry.

Core banking is the backbone of a financial institution, handling critical operations like transaction processing, account management, payments, and loans.

A core banking system is designed to process high volumes of transactions daily across every connected branch of the bank.

These systems are often built around mainframes, which are extremely good at processing transactions reliably and quickly. About 90-95% of all credit card transactions globally go through a mainframe.

Mainframes are typically IBM AS400 or IBM Z series machines running Hogan or FIS systematics software.

Modernizing core banking is a pressing need for banks to enable seamless and engaging customer experiences. Juniper Research has estimated that 4.2 billion people use digital banking services today, and they're hungry for new products, more personalization, and greater control.

A streaming data platform is often at the heart of this modernization, meeting you wherever your data resides, deploying on your cloud of choice, and delivering cloud-native resilience and enterprise-grade security features. This can help bridge the gap to the cloud and prepare organizations for the future.

The talent shortage of mainframe subject matter experts and the number of customers expecting real-time product experiences are motivating many business leaders to identify their strategy and begin this process immediately. A comprehensive risk assessment is essential before migrating core banking applications to AWS.

Conducting a risk assessment will help you design a security strategy tailored to your specific needs. This involves identifying potential threats, vulnerabilities, and impacts on your organization.

To modernize core banking, you need a nimble banking data platform supported by a scalable, cloud-based core. This will enable you to deliver next-gen solutions today and drive significant cost savings for the bank.

Here are some best practices for securing core banking applications on AWS:

By following these best practices and modernizing your core banking, you can deliver the differentiated experiences customers crave and stay ahead of the competition.

With the rise of digital banking, billions of people use online banking services every day, driving the need for banks to modernize their core and data systems to provide seamless and engaging customer experiences.

Juniper Research estimates that 4.2 billion people use digital banking services today, making it crucial for banks to keep up with their evolving needs.

The banking industry is under pressure to keep costs down, but legacy data and core technologies are the root of the problem, making it difficult to deliver personalized experiences to customers.

Banks that don't modernize their core systems risk losing market share to competitors that can deliver differentiated experiences.

To address this challenge, banks need a nimble banking data platform supported by a scalable, cloud-based core.

AWS provides a robust set of security features and compliance certifications that can help financial institutions secure their core banking applications and data. These features include a shared responsibility model, where AWS manages the security of the cloud infrastructure, while customers are responsible for securing their applications and data.

AWS complies with various industry standards and regulations, such as PCI DSS, GDPR, and ISO 27001. These certifications provide assurance that AWS services meet high security and compliance standards.

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) enables organizations to manage user access and permissions securely. Fine-grained access control ensures that only authorized users can access sensitive data and applications.

AWS offers various encryption options, both at rest and in transit, using services such as AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and AWS Certificate Manager. Data encryption is essential for protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access.

Here are some key security features of AWS:

Securing financial data is a top priority for any banking institution, and migrating to the cloud requires a multi-layered security strategy. We leveraged AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to create an isolated and secure network environment.

Our sensitive workloads were segregated from the public internet, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access or misuse. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) ensured that only authorized personnel and systems could access our resources.

Securing encryption keys was a top priority, and we harnessed the power of AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to implement automatic key rotation, auditing, and stringent access policies. This rendered our encryption protocols virtually impenetrable.

To safeguard our data at rest and in transit, we leveraged Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) and Amazon Elastic File System (EFS), implementing encryption at every stage of the data lifecycle. This provided an additional layer of protection against data breaches.

We integrated AWS Security Hub into our arsenal, providing a comprehensive security monitoring and compliance service. This gave us a centralized view of our security posture, enabling us to continuously monitor for potential vulnerabilities.

Rigorous penetration testing and vulnerability assessments were conducted throughout the migration process, validating the robustness of our defences and identifying areas for further fortification.