Due to the confidential and sensitive nature of the banking applications, it has become a lot prone to cyber attacks and security breaches that result not only in the loss of customers’ data but also in the loss of customers’ money.

Financial institutions and banks have to move with extreme caution as they have the data that could bring the fall of an entire organization. Fully knowing this potential, hackers target such banks and financial institutions to get access to confidential data. Failure to protect the data and thereby the customers from such fraudulent elements will result in loss of reputation and financial losses and even the World Bank had become the victim to such attacks.

Various stringent regulations have been introduced for the banking applications to maintain its security after the famous breach in 2008. But even after enforcing many regulations, the data breach is still going on with full force and many companies are incurring substantial losses due to such breaches. According to the Ponemon Cost of Data Breach Study sponsored by IBM, conducted in the year 2017, the global average cost of a data breach is $3.62 million.

The role of security testing

Security testing makes sure that the data and the source it originated from are both genuine. Security testing checks the authorization levels and the integration with other third-party applications that may act as the weak point for the breach. With remote and mobile operations increasing drastically, the possibilities for a threat are numerous. Security testing will minimize the risks, identify the pain points and possible avenues for data breach and makes sure that it is reinforced.

The security testing generally starts with defining the scope of the testing which should include all possible entry points, and then create a strategy for the data threat. With the help of test cases, the possible threats are identified, reviewed and attended to plug in any vulnerability.

Security testing can also lay the foundation for further innovations in strengthening the security of the banking applications. Many employ different methods of authentication to ensure maximum security and avoid any loosely accessible potential threat areas.

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Secure digital platforms for online banking services

In online banking services, there are a lot of factors involved right from the internet service provider to the third-party integrations or even the devices that are used to gain access. Even if the banking services enforce additional security measures like two-factor authentication, multiple personal questions, and locations to identify any security breach, there is very little they can do from the customer’s side to prevent the breach other than these methods.

What lies within their reach should be the one that must be given the maximum attention. The banking applications have to be so closely constructed that even a single breach couldn’t affect any other customers’ data or access the bank’s sensitive information.

Security testing to fortify the banking services

There are different approaches to security testing to protect their data from any threats. One can approach it from the customer’s side, from the server’s side or consider the operating system and the network.

· Vulnerability scanners are generally used to track any hidden risk elements on the operating systems, network or in the banking application.

· Penetration testing is also employed to test the entry points from the point of view of the attacker and tests the steps that will be taken in the event of a real attack.

· Ethical hacking is done by expert hackers who mimics the behavior of the actual hackers and find out the loopholes in the security and the vulnerable points through which a hacker could gain access.

Apart from these tests, the team should perform a risk assessment as a part of the software testing process by analyzing and classifying the potential risks depending on the extent of the effect it could cause.

Due to the many threats rising in recent times, new strategies have been introduced to prevent security breaches. Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is one such new introduction which prevents the end users from having the authorization to send sensitive data outside of the corporate network, thereby mitigating the risks associated.

Even after completing a security test, companies must run security scans frequently to find out if any new flaws or malicious elements have been introduced to the system. SQL Injection, XPath Injection, XML Bomb, Malicious Attachment, Cross Site Scripting, etc are some of the scans that need to be performed regularly and diligently and the results of which had to be studied and analyzed to identify more loopholes or any recent threats introduced into the banking application.

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