Security Issues of Mobile Banking Apps.
The smart phone banking makes use of the mobile channel servers to replicate online banking onto the mobile devices. The devastating effects of cyber attacks on mobile banking apps are very intimidating. Hence, such apps are in need of constant refinement. The refinement of mobile banking apps is as important as retaining customers. Banks and financial institutions are investing more on the security of mobile banking apps.
Many users consider banking apps to be completely secure and hence pay bills, initiate transfers and check accounts on the fly. But doubts over the security has also kept a significant percentage of the consumers away from trying the app. Similar concerns over the security has also kept the banks to delay additional range of financial services through the channel. It has been predicted that mobile malware and security breaches are going to increase significantly in the times to come. Thus, it is important to recognize a few issues of concern before using a mobile banking app.
- To ensure security, banks need to authenticate users accessing the mobile channel. Depending on the risks of transactions, a two factor authentication should be implemented. Two factor authentication typically relies on the one-time password delivered to the user via hardware token or a text message. But they are not a guarantee of protection from phishing or malware. Consumers find it cumbersome to carry a hardware token with them all the time and with frequent attacks against GSM and 3G cellular networks, the confidentiality of text messages cannot be assured.
- Considering the technical variations in mobile devices, every platform specific app needs to accommodate the device specific set of challenges. The mobile app developers need to adequately understand the risks that proliferate in this extremely complex ecosystem ensuring secured mobile data, connections and transactions.
- Fake apps or hacked apps are a great security threat. Consumers are at a greater security risk by downloading apps from unofficial app stores. The two most widely used mobile operating systems are the Android and Apple’s iOS. Android is the most widely used and allows users to download apps from play stores with less stringent policies. On the contrary, iOS have a very strict process of reviewing apps to eliminate the policy of malware.
- Many mobile banking apps lack the adequate implementation of SSL or certificate validation. This makes them even more vulnerable. SSL(Secure Socket Layers) and TLS(Transport Layer Security) are the two most important digital security protocols. They are mainly used to establish encrypted links and ensures server authenticity.
- Mobile devices are very hard to tell apart. This is due to weak device fingerprint. It is about gathering information about a remote computing device to identify it uniquely. Some enterprises attempt to identify devices in this way, but privacy concerns have limited the amount of data that can be shared. This has made difficult to identify individual mobile identification. This also limits the two factor authentication process which needs to be implemented without fail.
Conclusion
Mobile banking is evolving very rapidly. To boost the adoption of mobile apps and unlock its true potential, financial institutions need to address their customers’ data security through investing in high technology and using social media campaigns to highlight their efforts. For the success of mobile apps, it is important to design a secured mobile banking app that provides high user experience.