Those who follow the Fintech market may have noticed that trust in Fintech security has been wavering due to the growing rate of cybercrime (fintech companies have experience 2.5 times more attacks than in the two previous years). Despite this, Thibaud Catry, Chief Compliance Officer at ConnectPay, tells Digital Journal that, from the technology standpoint, Fintech security is ironclad.
The main risk, Catry says, is with human errors. Such variables remain one of the key challenges, thus client education should be at the top of the priority list.
Catry recommends that companies seek to limit its errors caused by company personnel through team and client education. This action is necessary to challenge misconceptions that fintech is more susceptible to virtual threats than traditional banking, notes Catry.
Catry encourages ramping up defenses due to rising cyber threats.
Here he states: “In today’s day and age, the size of your business does not determine the capability to fend off fraudsters. The massive fraud prevention departments that traditional banks have are becoming obsolete, as the ‘strength in numbers’ paradigm has shifted to ‘strength in technology’.
The expert adds: “Now it’s possible to prevent fraud at the same — or even higher — efficiency with fewer people simply by utilizing the appropriate tools and automation.”
He also notes that, in a way, the long-standing credibility of legacy banks puts them at greater risk. For example, in phishing assaults, large banks are frequently a better target for fraudsters as they service an incredibly high number of people.
Catry says: “If a person has an account with a well-known bank and receives a notice, stating that it has been blocked, it is more likely that s/he will click the link. As a result, scammers frequently target people using the most common bank names, exploit brand awareness to reel in unaware clients.”
The main threats faced by finance companies, according to Catry, are: Phishing attacks, Brand Abuse, and CEO scams (fraudsters impersonating a senior company manager). The latter is particularly harder to stop, Catry opines, since social engineering types of frauds prey on and exploit human trust.
In relation to this Catry explains: “Even the best technology implemented might not work if a recipient blindly trusts any sender, does not take time to evaluate the legitimacy of content, and press any link s/he gets.”
In terms of preventive measures, Catry emphasizes that being digitally native enables the fintech sector to handle cyberthreats with more ease than legacy banking could. This can be bolstered by building awareness both internally and externally, such as training employees on the most prevalent scam scenarios is a common practice, clients are usually not part of this process.
