Fintech hacking has far-reaching consequences that go beyond money, including breaking needed compliance standards or destroying customer trust.

Furthermore, financial service companies like PayStudio must safeguard their customers’ data as well as their money. At the same time, attackers commonly target fintech companies because they want to make money.

Fintech service providers are regarded as forerunners in the field of digital financial services, particularly in the post-COVID era. During the pandemic, they have been tremendously stimulating and driving the economy. The overall number of digital payment transactions has surpassed 2 billion, debit and credit card numbers have surpassed 950 million, an increase of more than 10% year on year. However, as the quantity of financial transactions has increased dramatically, the number of APM breaches, credit and debit card scams has also increased tremendously.

So, what can fintech companies do to avoid being impacted by the next cyberattack? Let’s take a closer look to see why a proactive cybersecurity approach is so important.

Cybersecurity’s Importance in Financial Sector

To emphasise the importance of financial cybersecurity, according to an IBM analysis, financial service companies have been the most targeted by thieves for the past three years.

While fintech companies are not subject to the same stringent rules as traditional banks, they must nonetheless take security seriously. Fintech companies can reduce their risk in the digital environment by using proactive cybersecurity services such as pen-testing.

Let’s look at a few of the most important advantages of fintech cybersecurity.

Compliance

While many common compliance standards, such as GDPR or PCI DSS, come to mind, financial service companies are subject to more strict regulatory obligations than other businesses. To prevent breaches from spreading or remaining unnoticed, the PCI DSS, for example, requires banking organisations to deploy an intrusion detection system.

It makes sense to establish a cybersecurity plan to secure your organisation in light of the increased compliance requirements for financial service providers.

Data Security in the Fintech Industry

While the PCI DSS focuses on data security, it isn’t the only compliance framework or law that governs the subject.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) of 1999, for example, mandates strict data security standards for financial data. While these higher standards provide added security and protection against consumer data breaches, they also require organisations that handle this data to devote more resources to security.

Reputation

Finally, financial institutions have a responsibility to maintain their good name. Few things may harm a company’s reputation more than a hack that compromises a customer’s data or financial assets.

In addition, financial service companies must build and maintain trust with their customers. The security of consumer data and money is a critical component of this.

Cybersecurity Trends: FinTech firms must be aware in the following time

To protect themselves and their consumers from such dangers, fintech companies must develop a solid cyber resilience structure, either within or outside their organisation.

1. Digitalization

Adoption of Fintech Solutions: As financial institutions embrace the digital wave, harmful actions have multiplied. According to CERT statistics, malicious activity increased by over 1000 percent over the pandemic period of the last six months, including cybercrimes, particularly those related to digital transformation. The new and developing cyber security threats highlight the digital world’s unique qualities of monetizing everything from data to stolen card numbers, passwords, and more.

2. Data Penetrate

Malware attacks, phishing, and vishing are some of the cyber risks that financial institutions and users face on a regular basis. These cyber-threats are tailored to the nature of financial transactions in order to breach networks and obtain important information. In their own platforms, most financial companies and customers keep data such as card details, user passwords, and credentials. A minor breach could result in the exposure of sensitive information.

Another issue that leads to data breaches is downloading apps without first determining their legitimacy and security dangers. Apps have access to the system’s stored data, including the users’ financial information. The majority of this stolen/breached data is for sale on the darknet.

3. Cloud Security Risks

While the cloud has many benefits, incorrect design of public cloud systems and service provider facilities allows hackers easy access. Interface flaws, as well as vulnerabilities in your hardware and software, cause issues. The fact that encrypted data is decrypted at every interface can cause issues depending on the system’s security.

4. Application Security

Cyber attackers may be attracted to hidden vulnerabilities in the application design. The majority of the time, firms do not test or verify their applications after purchasing them. When companies operate those programmes on their systems, they introduce vulnerabilities and hazards, which can lead to data breaches.

5. Weak Passwords

This applies to the service provider as well as individual users. If you are unable to secure your own systems, you may rest guaranteed that your service providers will be unconcerned. Hackers are exploiting risks and stealing users’ personally identifiable information and financial data with AI and machine learning-powered sophisticated tools. Some are extremely impossible to track down.

Conclusion

Financial technology companies have every motivation in the world to defend themselves, both for their own benefit and for the good of their clients.

Companies like CYBRI provide penetration testing services, which look for flaws in a system’s security infrastructure, among other things, and can ensure that financial transactions, mobile transfer, and other similar transactions proceed smoothly.

Security is critical to the success of these enterprises as well as the quality of people’s lives, particularly as our lives become increasingly entwined with technology. Following proper security standards will protect us all from those who aim to harm us, including cybercriminals and hackers, allowing us to take advantage of this incredible technology.

Stay careful and vigilant, as always.