Banking industry will never be the same: there are banking applications allowing millennials to perform all banking operations within a few taps. But with all comfort and usability, is anyone interested how secure is mobile banking operation?
While older generation is in doubt regarding using smartphones for banking, youngsters are downloading the apps with no fear of security threats. While older people are not ready for smaller screens with not-so- great UX for entering numerical data, young people are ready to simplify the life with apps.
So there is a question remain: should we be bothered with security on mobile while using applications for financial sector? And the answer is: yes, we should. Some of us should be worried a bit more, some of us should be worried a bit less. Yes, we are talking about mobile operating systems: recent survey says that Apple's iOS is more secure than Android OS. Who may have known? The Apple iPhone operating system effectively precludes running meaningful antivirus or antimalware programs. And this goes not only within mobile devices use and applications…
According to Main Street journal study, most young people in US prefer to use smartphones for banking operations, but not personal computers, because most of them are running on Windows OS. It comes as no surprise: Windows OS are "equipped" with "holes" for malware software, such as keyloggers. Keyloggers are used to record the typing pattern of the user, which then is sent to the so called "controller". In other words, keyloggers are reporting all consumer data to hackers.
But nothing is sacred for cybercriminals. With all that was said, banking mobile applications both on Android and Apple still may not be the most secure way to perform banking operations. To date, mobile software developers are struggling to provide people security upgraded solutions.
One of the way to ensure that user is not a cybercriminal is to study user data. Not only IP address, but also when user usually uses app, where user usually uses app… And it counts also whether user is left or right handed… While no individual data point means that fraud is happening – a user that suddenly and drastically changes dramatically from their profile becomes easy to spot and flag.
Therefore, we’ve got two news, bad and good. The bad one is that criminals are always be there, and the good one: applications get better at spotting and keeping them out.