More than 75% of the world’s population uses FinTech services. Contactless payments, online lending, mobile banking, and other FinTech-powered financial services have proved to be a blessing for users. However, this blessing has brought with it various security dangers. Fintech apps and services are goldmines for cybercriminals to steal valuable financial data. The increasing number of FinTech cyber attacks has made cybersecurity in Fintech more important than ever. Today, Fintech is one of the top Cybersecurity trends 2022.

FinTech Cybersecurity Challenges

1. Identity Theft

Hackers have been stealing credentials to impersonate users and access their accounts. They log in to their accounts to steal huge amounts of money and sensitive financial data. According to a global survey of Financial Institutions in 2021, there has been a 282% rise in Fintech Cyber attacks between 2019 to 2021.

To combat these threats, cybersecurity in fintech implements strong authorization, authentication mechanisms, and other verification methods to secure users’ accounts.

2. Data Breaches

Fintech apps carry an incredible amount of data including credit card & bank numbers, social security numbers, user addresses, and other personal data. To get this sensitive data, hackers launch phishing attacks, sneak in malware and take advantage of vulnerable API points. They steal the data either to commit financial fraud or sell the sensitive data to other parties.

Cybersecurity in Fintech is used to detect vulnerabilities and implement protection layers. These security layers make it impossible for hackers to exploit the functionality of your app or steal data.

3. Malware Attacks

Despite the looming threats, most banks and other financial institutions haven’t adopted advanced security measures. They rely on Firewalls and Anti-virus software which isn’t enough. As a result, hackers easily find vulnerabilities in the bank’s security systems and take advantage of the loopholes to launch a Malware attack. Cybersecurity in Fintech is used to implement the following proactive measures:

• Endpoint security solutions
• Distributed denial of service (DDoS) prevention solutions
• Endpoint protection and prevention (EPP) solutions
• Endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions

To effectively address the emerging innovative Fintech cyber-attacks, cybersecurity service providers are also combining various malware prevention technologies to provide robust protection to Fintech.

4. Phishing Attacks

Phishing attacks are on the rise these days. Hackers use emails to trick users to click on a link, resetting their passwords, or sharing financial data. These emails are hard to distinguish as they look very similar to legitimate emails, which makes them a major threat to Fintech apps.

To prevent such attacks, financial institutes should implement solutions that can filter such emails or invest in employees’ cybersecurity awareness. This way, they can prevent the severity of phishing attacks.

Conclusion

Fintech is one of the most targeted industries and a single attack can cause irreversible damage. Thus, CISOs of fintech institutes and cybersecurity vendors must work together to prevent cyber attacks.

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