Breach of Confidence: Results of the 2009 Banking Information Security Today Survey.

The economy and Heartland.

There is no way you can look at the banking landscape in 2009 and not focus on these inextricably linked events.

Starting in the summer of 2008 with the shocking IndyMac Bank closure, the global recession has had a stranglehold on the financial services industry.

The Heartland Payment Systems breach of an estimated 130 million accounts - the largest breach ever detected -- occurred sometime in 2008, but was announced publicly on Inauguration Day 2009. And, ironically, what that news inaugurated was a new public outcry against such breaches and the toll they take upon banking institutions and customers.

At a time when financial institutions could least afford it - especially in terms of customer confidence - they were forced to assign extra resources to recover from the Heartland breach. And these events combined to define the state of banking information security in 2009.

Facing 2010, five key themes emerge from our latest annual survey. Among them:

The Heartland Aftermath: It's estimated that more than 3,000 banking institutions have been affected by the Heartland data breach. And if this incident has taught us any lessons, then they are: 1) Customers are inclined to 'shoot the messenger' when banking institutions make them aware of card compromises; and 2) Institutions are sick of cleaning up after security disasters that occurred on some one else's (a merchant or a processor's) watch. Download Handbook