The world is moving towards the digital economy and mobility platforms being the bedrock for financial services, it is important to be aware of applications (apps) being installed by the end user. There are hackers across the world who counter the security framework and designs of apps. These hackers constantly watch the financial services space and keep coming up with their own version of fake financial apps to target users. This has become a trend in the cyber attacks and financial frauds segment. Hence, it is important to be vigilant while executing financial transactions through digital platforms and applications.
How fake apps work
There are fake apps which exactly replicate the original application and the user community falls prey to these kinds of fake financial apps. Therefore, it is important for banks and other financial institutions to conduct awareness programmes which introduce financial apps on the web or on mobile platforms. This ensures the application being used is not manipulated. Moreover, the extensive use of mobile applications in the financial domain can pretty much lead to tricking customers, especially in the banking domain in the rural segment where the awareness level is considerably low. Hence, it is important that one must take precautions to be safe in the current fake application trap.
There are apps which are filled with Adware – automatically flooding unsuspecting users with pop-up advertisements to gain access to advertising revenue. These fake apps have hidden features built into the code. In other words, these apps don't create a short cut icon making it difficult for a user to uninstall them.
There are fake apps which infect the mobile device with malware used to reap personal and financial information.
Precautions users should follow:
- Verify whether the app is authentic and legitimate
- Only use official and authentic app stores to download applications
- Connect with the associated financial institution to ensure the app's validity
- Avoid direct download of any app from websites or clicking on advertisement pop-ups
- Being aware is one way of prevention – keep reading reviews as apps will have proper reviews published transparently on their official websites
- Apps developed by the service provider will have their versions and downloads will compare the running version while the app is in use
- Avoid downloading apps from distrusted websites. Users can disable installation of apps from unknown sources in the phone settings
- Go through app permissions carefully. Ideally, the permissions asked by any app must comply with its functionalities
What institutions should do
It is important for financial institutions to take care of their apps by ensuring the basic security features and the proactive alert mechanisms are in place while implementing any financial application. Moreover, monitoring is an inevitable part of any application and this will help understand basics, such as, how many users are accessing the app, what kind of activities are being carried out, etc.
Besides application monitoring, security monitoring will help organisations to have the visibility to identify vulnerabilities and attacks.
The writer is Senior Director- Banking & Payments at FIS.
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