Understanding Cyber Threats in Crypto: A Conversation with Check Point’s Dan Danay

Welcome to FinTech TV.

I'm Remy Blair.

Cybersecurity is in the middle of a once in a generation shift driven by AI, as well as new threats and a radically changing digital landscape.

Well, blockchains use a consensus system called proof of work to keep block creation decentralized, and cyber criminals have found a way to game the system with malware.

Now cybercrime is also a business and beyond ransomware, crypto jacking has become.

A popular tactic and does use organizations computers to mine crypto turns stolen processing power into profit for attackers.

Joining me live at the New York Stock Exchange is Dan Deay, who is the head of blockchain security at Checkpoint.

Dan, great to have you here.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Great to be here.

Thank you very much, Ray.

Well, of course you have a global perspective when it comes to blockchain, so why are you getting into it now?

Well, we are a big believer in blockchain and crypto.

I'm personally a big believer and I think this is crypto's big moment of becoming mainstream when it comes to financial institutions and financial use cases.

You can see it with the changes in the regulations here in the states with the current government making it a target to become the crypto capital of the world, and we really see it a lot when it comes to financial institution adoption with real asset tokenization and stable for usage, which is crazy right now.

Yeah, and Dan, you and I can have an entire conversation about this, but when it comes to cybersecurity threats, we know what they're like in the traditional finance world.

But when it comes to crypto, give us an understanding of the threat landscape.

OK, so.

Public blockchains like Ethereum, are highly adversarial environments.

Unfortunately, the reward is very big when it comes to hacking on the public blockchains.

And therefore it's a pretty risky operation to operate and interact with public blockchains like Ethereum.

The good news is that you can do it.

I always think about this like the big moment of connecting to the internet for the first time.

It's scary, but you have to go through this path.

You just have to do this mindfully and take cybersecurity into consideration.

There are good ways to do it.

And when we're talking about cybersecurity, especially in blockchain, it's no longer just about trad fire or DFI anymore.

It's also about national security as well as geopolitics, isn't it?

So what are you doing at Checkpoint to make sure that you're assessing the threats out there?

OK, we are at Checkpoint.

We believe in having a very strong intelligence.

We are a prevention first company.

Meaning we try to find and recognize attacks in the staging phases.

In order to find an attack in its staging phases, you must monitor the entire environment.

So for example, when we cover a network like Ethereum.

We go through every single transaction that is going on chain and that way we're able to detect the threats on the staging phase.

This is really important, especially when you're protecting against state actors and highly, highly sophisticated.

And when we look at the price point for Bitcoin or as you mentioned, ether the tokens on these blockchains, there's no surprise given that there's a rise in these threats.

But for both enterprises as well as users out there, what is your advice to them given the current threats?

OK, I believe that good security is built on a layered approach.

We need to have multiple layers with each of them being providing good security, meaning you need good intelligence, then you need good custody.

Good auditing and also good real time security same like on any other surfaces.

So exactly what you're used to seeing on the cyber side on the network or the cloud, you need to have the same kind of standards in the blockchain space and this is what we are trying to introduce into the market.

Yeah, and Dan, we're here counting down the months until the end of 2025, and as you mentioned, the regulatory landscape here in the US has become favorable when it comes to digital assets.

So for institutions out there who get blockchain security right, what will set them apart from the other institutions?

I think that fundamentally there's no big difference between good cybersecurity outside of crypto and inside of crypto.

So taking those same standards, the same methodology, the same tools and applying them in a correct way to cybersecurity and blockchain, I think that's the key.

To getting it right, so you need good intelligence.

You need good code audits.

You need good secure operation, and you need real-time security.

I think those are the big pillars.

Yeah, and this year 2025 we've been focusing on artificial intelligence.

So given the advancements in that technology, how does that affect security?

So I believe AI just makes everybody more productive.

Unfortunately that includes the hackers out there so attacks are becoming more sophisticated.

It's now cheaper for attackers to run very sophisticated, very slick attacks, and we must be at the forefront and use AI to our advantage as well.

To level up and Dan, what would your advice be to financial institutions who are just entering the crypto space now?

OK, so I'll take off my cybersecurity hat and put on my blockchain a diehard hat, and I'll keep going.

That's the right.

Direction.

I don't want to scare anybody with the cyber threats.

You have to deal with the cyber security issues digently, thoughtfully.

You need good vendors.

You need to think about it and act accordingly, but I think making that move, interacting with public blockchain.

As I said, very similar to interacting with the internet for the first time.

It's scary, but go for it.

You should do it.

There's a big opportunity and we just try to make this smoother. transition for these institutions.

And finally, before I let you go, there's no doubt that the crypto and digital asset space is going to grow exponentially moving forward.

So that means security is going to be vital.

So for users out there who are watching this right now, what can they actually do to protect themselves?

I think they also need to think about security in a layered way they need to think about how they custody.

They need to think about where they operate.

Generally speaking, if things look too good to be true, then maybe they're not as they seem, so we should think about secure operation, but again, I don't want to scare anybody.

I think that anybody taking steps in crypto should experiment, should have as much hands-on experiment as possible to understand their potential.

And enjoy the benefits, but just be mindful and don't take security as an afterthought because in this market it may be a painful experience.

I think hindsight is always 20/20 when it comes to these risks.

So Dan, great to have you here at the New York Stock Exchange.

Thank you so much for joining me and thank you so much for sharing your perspective.

Great to be here.

Thank you so much.