Isabel Group and Davinsi Labs make financial processes safer
Published on 12/04/2022 in Customer Stories
Secure administrative and financial processes are under pressure. Tim Van Der Wee of Isabel Group explains how, in partnership with Davinsi Labs, the company secures communication between tax and accountancy bureaus, software partners and banks.
Today, entrepreneurs or financial market players are facing profound changes. The COVID crisis has really accelerated the development and implementation of digitalization and automation. But this rapid evolution has also increased the likelihood of data breaches, cyber attacks and other digital threats. Not to mention the challenging competitive landscape and the complex regulations – both national and European – that can give large and small entrepreneurs sleepless nights.
Fight against cybercrime
As a fintech company, founded by the four major Belgian banks, Isabel Group offers innovative applications to companies, accountants and banks with which to exchange documents, manage identities and make digital payments. The fight against cybercrime and (financial) fraud is more important than ever.
Security Priority Experts
On an average day, Isabel Group uses its Isabel 6 platform to process between six and seven billion euros in payments. Security is therefore an absolute priority. To keep pace with the rapid evolution in the sector, Isabel Group relies on the external expertise of Davinsi Labs, which over the years has grown into a permanent partner of Isabel Group in security monitoring and pentesting.
Security Analytics
The collaboration with Davinsi Labs includes the implementation and operational follow-up of a security information and event management system (SIEM), based on the Splunk big data analytics platform. This system focuses not on the client but on providing (more) insight into infrastructure problems for internal employees. The set-up of the platform was created and optimized on the basis of the business requirements and the specific use cases of Isabel Group.
Offensive Security
Isabel Group is also increasingly focusing on awareness-raising campaigns about human behavior in administrative and financial processes – because behavior is often the weakest link in the security chain of digital transactions. Hackers are increasingly focusing on deceiving people, because this offers them the greatest chance of breaking into a system.
Penetration testing (aka pentesting)
For Isabel Group, safety is essential, as is the availability of the services. The proactive testing by ethical hackers of the infrastructure, applications, as well as the vulnerabilities of end users is important in order to stay just one step ahead of the opponent. Unfortunately, one test does not provide a conclusive guarantee that the security policy is watertight. Every day, hackers invent new tools and techniques. What is safe today may display a critical vulnerability tomorrow. A penetration test should therefore be carried out on a regular basis.
Use of new technology
The emergence of big data and new technologies – such as AI, machine learning and blockchain – provide powerful tools for the automation and streamlining of financial processes.
Thanks to machine learning, for example, it is possible to detect how a correct accounting proposal can be made to customers based on past accounting transactions. This saves time and improves efficiency. In the field of e-invoicing, machine learning can also help with self-learning algorithms to finally eliminate unstructured invoices that are drawn up in Word or as a PDF. In short, invoices are delivered more securely and easily, and there is continuous insight into the organization.
Technologies such as AI and ML offer new opportunities to make digital payment transactions more secure.
Tim Van Der Wee, Chief Information & Technology Officer at Isabel Group
The expansion of a so-called ‘data lake‘ – for which the necessary time and resources are invested within Isabel Group – will also provide new opportunities to use data for new software applications that take a business to a higher level in terms of efficiency.
At the same time, Isabel Group’s experts work with data pipelines. This approach ensures that software applications always produce the same results that are easy to test. The distinction between exploration – which can be investigated via machine learning – and exploitation is a very important factor here.
Tim Van Der Wee, Chief Information & Technology Officer at Isabel Group. As CIO, he is responsible for the IT support of the digital workplace and the operational management of software applications. As a CTO, he is in charge of the R&D processes – including innovation – of solutions.
Isabel Group links and simplifies the administrative and financial processes of companies. This financial service provider was set up in 1995 by the four major Belgian banks. The company ensures a smooth and reliable exchange of documents, payments and identities and automates access to them. The group automates 450 million transactions per year or €7 billion per day.
Approximately 90,000 companies, 3,600 accounting offices, 250 software partners and 1,000 banks work with or link to Isabel Group software, including Isabel 6, Ibanity, CodaBox, ClearFacts, Ponto, Clearnox, etc. This means that Isabel Group manages Belgium’s largest financial infrastructure.
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