How Financial Services Are Becoming More Secure
The following guest post on improving financial services security was submitted by Damien Troy.
As technology improves and continually evolves, security becomes increasingly important. While new technologies being used in businesses and services is generally a positive, it can also leave them vulnerable to the latest cybercrime, such as hacking and identity theft. For services dealing with sensitive personal information, this is particularly important. Financial services such as banks, advisors and short term loan companies, like loanpig.co.uk, all have a responsibility to keep their customers information secure. Here’s how financial services are improving their security.
End-to-end Encryption
End-to-end encryption has been in place within financial services for some time now. Its purpose is to keep important personal information, such as credit card details, private. Whenever a user sends their information to a website, such as by entering their payment details online, they are vulnerable to cybercrime. Once the information has been sent out, the user has no control over it. Encryption scrambles the information, making it illegible should it be accessed by anyone other than the intended recipient. End-to-end encryption makes sure the data is only readable by the sender and the recipient.
Biometric Security
In the future, we could see biometric security being used widely throughout the financial service industry. Biometric security involves using an individual’s biological traits to identify them, for example fingerprint or iris recognition. This technology could be highly beneficial for the financial service industry because it is more secure than a password or PIN code and it could also potentially cut costs by reducing the need for two-step verification via SMS message.
Ransomware Protection
The threat from ransomware is continually increasing, as new schemes are online every day. These attacks are becoming far more sophisticated than a generic phishing email and have the potential to steal large amounts of customers’ personal data. Some examples of more sophisticated ransomware include programs which are able to offer online helpdesks to their victims to gather information. In order to protect themselves from this threat, financial service providers need to be able to identify threats and have a recovery plan in place. In addition, computers need to be kept updated with appropriate security software which is vital for reducing the risk of Trojans and ransomware. Some banks have even gone as far as offering their customers free security software, to help protect their information.
Moving Away From Passwords
Many financial service providers still rely upon generic passwords, such as mother’s maiden name, place of birth. All of this personal information is easily available on social media. Some banks are already moving away from this type of password and instead using one-time only passwords which are sent directly to the customer’s phone each time they want to access their bank or loan provider. The movement towards one-time passwords is a positive step to improving security, but it will take a long time to fully implement them across all the financial service sectors. Some clever marketing strategies will also be required to get customers on board with the process.
Author bio:
Damien Troy is an experienced business man with many years working within the financial sector of business. He has helped many struggling businesses overcome financial difficulty and create success where it looked least likely.
