Imagine a world where all your financial transactions are done in the blink of an eye, investments are handled with a swipe, and loans are approved with a tap, and where financial technology is changing the way we handle money. Welcome to the world of financial technology and cyber-secure fintech apps!
The fintech (financial technology) business has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few decades, with new platforms and apps being made every day. Statista says that as of May 2023, there were almost 11,651 fintech startups in the US. This was the most of any country in the world.
As fintech companies grow quickly, so does the number of people who use mobile banking at a rate that has never been seen before. According to Statista, the number of people who use digital banking in the US will grow from 197 million in 2021 to 217 million in 2025. With how easy and convenient it is to use mobile banking, this number could go even higher.
With the number of people using digital financial services growing at a rate that has never been seen before, the fintech app needs to improve its security.
Why Is It Important For Businesses To Have Cybersecurity For FinTech?
Data leaks and cyberattacks are often in the news because hackers are always trying to change sensitive data and break security rules. If these hackers are successful, they can not only cost companies millions of dollars but also hurt their brand image and credibility in the market.
For example, Equifax, an American multinational consumer credit reporting business, had one of the biggest data breaches of the century, which cost them nearly $4 billion in just a few days. The cost of putting in place strong security measures was much less than what was lost. It turned out to be true because two years after the breach, the company spent about $1.4 billion to clean up. This included costs to improve app and data security and to change IT systems. On the other hand, developing a safe fintech app only costs between $50,000 and $200,000 (more on this later).
Here are a few more examples of cyberattacks on fintech that were mentioned in 2022:
The biggest financial company in Finland, OP Financial Group, has 180 cooperative banks and 2 million customers. Phishing messages claiming to be from OP Group and requesting that the recipients click on a link to make a payment attacked it online.
A decentralized platform for loans and borrowing called Qubit Finance was used by hackers to steal nearly $80 million worth of cryptocurrency.
“N4aughtysecTU” broke into a lot of data at the credit report company TransUnion. This hacker group asked for $15 million in exchange for four terabytes of data that they had stolen.
So, what are your security measures to keep you safe from these kinds of things and make sure you don’t fall victim to any bad online attacks? What are the best things you can do to make sure your customers’ banking platforms are safe and legal?
Well, since the number of people who use mobile banking is growing quickly, you might want to build a custom FinTech app with strong security measures to protect yourself from such risks. Let’s get started to learn how to make a safe banking app in 2023.
Talk to our experts about how to make a safe fintech appfor your business.
How to Make a Safe Financial Tech App?
Building a custom mobile app with strong security measures is the best way to make sure security in the fintech business has never been better.
Statista says that 43.5% of US consumers prefer to reach their accounts through mobile banking. This makes it the most common way to bank. But making a secure fintech app is hard and takes a lot of time. It requires appropriate experience, expertise, and knowledge of fintech security compliances like PCI-DSS and GDPR.
Even though the steps to make a FinTech app are the same as for any other mobile app, it’s important to know the best security practices for FinTech apps if you want your app to be successful in the long run. So, here’s a step-by-step guide to making a safe banking app:
How to Make a Safe Financial Tech App
Figure out what your app is for
The first step in making a financial app is to figure out what it will be used for. Find out what kind of fintech app will work best for you. Do you need a solution for mobile banking, peer-to-peer lending, investment management, loan approval, or any other financial service? If you know what your app is for, you can build the right kind of app that will meet the needs of your target audience.
Describe the features and how they work
Now, based on what your product is for, make a list of its most important features and functions. No matter what your app is used for, you should think about adding basic security features like user authentication, safe transactions, account management, personalized notifications, real-time data updates, and analytics. You should also make a plan for how the app will be built.
Make an easy-to-use user interface.
Any app needs an easy-to-use design to work, and a fintech app is no different. So, make an interface that is easy to use, looks good, and guides users through the different features. For a smooth UI/UX design, pay attention to ease of use, accessibility, security, and how transactions work.
Make the app, test it, and put it on the market.
Now is the time to start the building process. To make a cutting-edge, safe, and stable fintech app, use the right tech stack and follow agile methods. Before putting it on the market, you should test it thoroughly to find any bugs or problems and fix them.
Analyze, keep an eye on, and try again
The process of making a fintech app doesn’t end when you successfully launch it. To make sure your app keeps doing well in the fintech industry, you need to keep an eye on its performance, feedback, user involvement, scalability, and security. You can use analytics tools to learn about how users behave and stay up-to-date on security standards. This will help you improve the performance of the app based on market trends and user comments.
Cost of Making a Cybersecurity App for Fintech
The cost of making a secure financial app depends on several things, such as the platform(s) it will be made for, the type of app, the features and complexity of the app, the level of security it offers, and where the fintech app development business is located.
Each of these things has a big effect on the total cost of making an app. Because of this, it is hard to give an exact cost for developing a financial app without knowing what you need. As a rough estimate, the cost of making a fintech app can be anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000 or more, based on the things we talked about above.
Now that you know how to build a secure financial app and how much it will cost, let’s look at the best ways to keep your app safe from cybercrime and give it an edge over the competition.
Best Ways to Make Sure Your Fintech Business Is Secure Online
With the risk of data breaches and hacking growing all the time, it’s more important than ever to build proactive security measures into fintech apps. A small security breach in a fintech app can cause big financial losses, legal trouble, and damage to the app’s image. So, when making a security solution for a fintech app, you must use the best methods.
Best Practices for Making FinTech Apps
Follow the rules and standards of your industry
There are a lot of rules for the fintech business. So, if you want to protect the data of users and ensure cybersecurity, you need to learn about the legal standards. To build trust and security, make sure your app follows general rules like Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), PCI-DSS, and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Safely store information
To make a secure fintech system, security needs to be built in at every step of the process. So, if you want to make a secure financial app, you need to think about what data to store, where to store it, who will use your app, and more. Try to keep your app’s architecture simple and store only the most important data so that hackers can’t steal private information from your system. For example, you could make a secure payment gateway that doesn’t need the card numbers of your users. To ensure data integrity, it is also important to try the data restoration process regularly.
Write A Safe App Code
A fintech app can’t work without a secure code. If even the smallest holes are in your code, all the work you put into making a safe app may be for nothing, putting your business at risk. So, the tech experts who install the code should think about proper logging, input validation, password management, error handling, authentication, cryptography practices, and secure communication.
Secure APIs, Data Encryption, And Two-Factor Authentication Should Be Used
The security and scalability of financial solutions are very important to the success of the fintech business. So, when making a fintech app, you should include strong security measures like biometric identification, two-factor authentication, data encryption, and safe APIs.
Biometric Identification: The biometric technology adds an extra layer of security to the application by letting users access the fintech solution only with their unique biometric data, such as face recognition or fingerprints.
Biometric Device For Identifying People
Multi-Factor Authentication: With multi-factor authentication, users need to provide two or more ways to prove who they are before they can use an app. For example, users can’t get into their accounts without a password and an OTP sent to their phone.
Data Encryption: One of the best ways to keep banking information safe is to encrypt it. Add a strong data encryption feature to protect private user data while it is at rest and while it is being sent. This will make sure that hackers can’t get unauthorized access to the information and figure out what it means.
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs): APIs are the way that FinTech app security solutions communicate with third-party services. Because of this, your fintech security plans must include protecting these APIs to stop unauthorized access and possible data leaks. By adding these cybersecurity solutions and security features to fintech applications, companies can deal with the cybersecurity risks of fintech and build a safe and resilient digital financial ecosystem.
Find a Trusted Tech Partner with Security Policies
Putting together a safe fintech app is a stressful process. Your in-house team might not be able to follow the steps and best practices mentioned above. So, to make sure app development is easy and successful, you might want to work with a reputable fintech app development company that has the necessary licenses and strong cybersecurity standards to build secure fintech apps. Even though it can be hard to find the right tech partner, once you do, it will pay off in the long run.
To find the right tech partner, you can do the following:
Find out about the different tech companies and how serious they are about security.
Look for a company that has a track record of making financial software and apps that work well.
Ask about their security team, policies, methods, and any certifications they have.
Check to see if the company follows the rules for your business and has the important certifications it needs, such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, and PCI DSS.
You can also look at the reviews, recommendations, and portfolios of its past clients.
Talk to a trustworthy financial development partner.
Now that we’ve talked about all the important parts of fintech cybersecurity, it’s time to look at some examples of financial apps that are leading the industry with their top-notch security features.
Top-Notch Applications Of Fintech In The Real World
In the fintech business, there are many different kinds of apps, each with its own set of features and functions to meet the needs of different users. Here are some real-world apps that are great models of cybersecurity in fintech because of how well they work and how they treat their users.
PayPal
PayPal is a well-known P2P payment app that helps people buy things online, give and receive money, and keep track of their finances. Users of the Thai fintech solution can add their credit cards, debit cards, and bank accounts to the application to make transactions safe and easy. Because PayPal is simple to use and widely accepted, many people and businesses use it. This makes transactions safe and gives people peace of mind.
Who was Robin Hood?
Robinhood is the best stock trading app in the fintech industry. It lets users buy and sell stocks, cryptocurrencies, and ETFs on a safe platform. With two-factor authentication (2FA), device monitoring, and other security features, Robinhood is seen as a safe place for investors’ stocks and cash, which is why it has more than 12.2 million monthly active users. Also, Robinhood is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) and has FDIC protection. Both of these things make sure that fintech has strong cybersecurity.
Mint
Mint is a personal finance app that helps people keep track of their money and spending in an easy way. It works with a user’s credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, and bills to give them personalized information and help them make smart financial choices. The app’s easy-to-use design, strong security measures, and best practices for using IoT, AI, blockchain, and other fintech cybersecurity trends make it a safe way for millions of people around the world to keep track of their money. Make a safe app for managing your spending, Mudra.
Think of Appic Softwares as a Trusted Tech Partner For Developing Fintech Apps
In our technology-driven world, where most tech-savvy people prefer to handle their finances online, it should be the top priority of fintech companies to make sure their apps are safe. But since fintech hacking is often in the news, making security solutions for fintech is not easy. Appic Softwares is a reliable fintech app development company that has the skills and knowledge to help you navigate the complex world of cybersecurity.
We have a team of more than 350 fintech experts and a track record of providing more than 500 custom fintech solutions around the world. Our pros in the field can start from scratch and build high-quality, secure FinTech apps based on your needs.
With the help of our efficient team of fintech experts, you can start your fintech cybersecurity path and make your app idea come to life with confidence. Do you want to build a safe and reliable financial app? Talk to us now.
FAQs
What is cybersecurity in the business field?
Cybersecurity in FinTech means building strong security measures and best practices into FinTech security solutions to protect user’s private data and money from unauthorized access, data breaches, and cyber threats. To protect data, it uses cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, etc.
Why is security so important in fintech?
Fintech cybersecurity is important to protect the information, finances, and transactions of people in the digital world. Its goal is to stop hackers and cybercriminals from getting illegal access to your fintech system and carrying out their bad plans to mess with your digital infrastructure.
What are some common threats to safety in fintech?
You should be aware of the following common hacking threats:
Lockout software
Leak of data
Phishing
Hacking
Threats from inside
Why is safety important in fintech?
Cybersecurity in fintech can help protect against a wide range of cyber dangers. It helps keep sensitive data and bank records from being hacked, stolen, or broken into by cyber-attacks. By stopping cybercrime, it helps avoid financial losses, fines from regulators, and damage to a person’s image.
Make the most of your store with our team of talented Financial App developers. To assist you in managing your store successfully, you may even hire a developer from us.
