Member Article

Promon: Be Careful with In-House Apps

Financial services companies that are developing and launching apps need to be careful not to put customer details at risk, by not employing the right type of security in the rush to keep up or gain a competitive edge in the market.

In the last year we’ve seen a surge in the development of apps in the financial sector, not only from different organisations, but for the different devices steadily entering the market, for example smart watches.

Many of these companies have taken steps to capitalise on this growth by launching their own apps to compete. Some financial services companies that have done this and also taken the necessary steps to make sure that their apps are self-defending against rising malware attacks.

However, the majority have security measures in place which only address and fix attacks once they have already occurred, which means a customers’ details have already been compromised. We’ve seen this happen in several high-profile cases over the year and its capacity to cause damage to company reputations should not be underestimated.

Promon Shield is a proactive solution designed to stop malware attacks before they do any harm, without changing the customer experience. Promon focuses on vulnerabilities rather than threats and is therefore able to ensure a safe mobile banking experience, even on devices that have been compromised.

The financial services sector is one which needs to be treated with extra caution when it comes to handling consumer data. The consequences of identity theft can be devastating and steps need to be taken to make sure that any security put in place is preventative rather than reactive. The UK is already an established target for malware attacks and self-defending security apps must now be a priority to limit the damage for consumers, but also the reputational damage for financial services companies.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Gordon Young .