Spanish financial services company BBVA has selected digital transformation company Telefónica Tech to improve the cybersecurity of its operations on a global scale.
As part of the partnership, BBVA will employ the most advanced technologies in artificial intelligence (AI) and process automation for preventing cyber threats.
The alliance between the parties also involves the establishment of a new specialised centre in Mexico.
To be fully operational this month, the new cybersecurity hub will serve as a counterpart to BBVA’s existing Global Cybersecurity Centre in Spain.
According to the companies, the combination of both facilities will offer extensive and uninterrupted coverage for BBVA.
The two hubs will be staffed by nearly 200 cybersecurity professionals from Telefónica Tech who will collaborate with the BBVA team to offer a global and complementary service.
BBVA global chief information security officer Sergio Fidalgo said: ‘These two hubs specialising in cybersecurity are unique in the financial industry and represent a new step towards protecting our infrastructures with the latest technological advances.
“Our goal is to be a bank that is increasingly secure and prepared to respond to all types of attacks and to offer the best service to our customers with the best security guarantees in the market.”
Through the collaboration with Telefónica Tech, the Spanish bank will leverage the latest advances of the technology company backed by its global experience and the advantages provided by intelligence.
This will help BBVA in detecting, identifying, and responding to possible threats as well as in tracking the activity of cyber-attackers.
Telefónica Tech offers close to 50 services to deliver security responses to all the operational and business elements of the bank.
The responses range from solutions for proactive threat anticipation and operational tactics to strategies for bolstering the resilience and protection of BBVA’s data processing centres (DPCs).
Telefónica Tech Spain and the Americas chief operating officer María Jesús Almazor said: “It is a pleasure to accompany BBVA in this process of global security with our technological capabilities and the talent of our professionals, who are backed by a global network of more than 1,500 experts in cybersecurity operations and more than ten security operations centres (SOCs) across Europe and the Americas to monitor and oversee the security of organisations 24×7.”
