Millions of Barclays customers now control their finances with easy-to-use smartphone apps and online banking technology allowing them to have the freedom to bank wherever and whenever they choose.
Latest figures show the average Barclays customer visits a branch less than twice a month and uses Barclays Mobile Banking 26 times a month. Since the Barclays Mobile Banking and Pingit Apps were launched in 2012, they have been downloaded more than 5m times, and are being accessed 17.5m times each week with more than £4bn in payments and transfers being made each month during July and August 2014.
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As more customers choose to manage their finances on electronic devices, customers are demanding even more rigorous security measures and seeking greater confidence their payments can be made safely and securely.
Barclays Mobile Banking and Pingit apps are the first to have been independently assessed in order to be awarded the new BSI (British Standards Institution) kitemark for secure digital transactions. Both apps underwent rigorous testing to make sure the security controls meet the required BSI standards for handling confidential data.
Barclays and Get Safe Online recommend consumers play a part in protecting their account when using digital banking by encouraging people to follow simple steps to make sure their digital banking transactions are safe and secure.
Top 10 Digital Safety Tips
– Protect your computer, laptop, iPad or mobile device with the latest security software and install regular updates.
– Only visit your bank’s online banking site from a trusted bookmark or by typing the site address in your browser
– Always use official mobile banking apps provided by your bank and only download apps from official app stores
– When using a public wi-fi hotspot, log in or send personal information only to websites you know are fully encrypted.
– Don’t stay permanently signed in to accounts. When you’ve finished using an account, log out.
– Keep your PINs, passwords, bankcard details and authorisation codes to yourself – don’t share them with anyone who phones, emails or calls at your door
– Strengthen your passwords with letters, numbers and symbols and don’t write them down
– Check statements regularly and tell your bank about any odd activity
– Keep your bank updated with your latest contact numbers so it can get in touch if they identify suspicious transactions
– To find out what else you can do to protect yourself from fraud, visit barclays.co.uk/fraudprevention
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Alex Grant, Managing Director of Fraud Prevention at Barclays, said: “Millions of Barclays customers use digital banking every day and its popularity is, in part due to the robust safety measures we have in place across those channels. Having our security systems independently and rigorously tested to achieve the BSI kitemark clearly demonstrates our continued commitment to safeguard our customers’ finances and data. The BSI kitemark is a widely trusted and we’re proud to be the first bank to gain the certification for our mobile banking and Pingit apps.”
Tony Neate , CEO , Get Safe On Line said: “Internet and mobile banking is very convenient, and allows us to be in complete control of our finances from wherever we are, but we need to be assured that our money is safe. The major banks are committed to investing in the technology to secure these online services, but let’s not forget that we all have a part to play in protecting our accounts and there are some very simple steps we should all take – these are things like only downloading the official banking app, keeping log-in details private and installing security software.
Working with industry leaders, including Barclays, we are helping to promote a safer use of the internet so customers can use online banking without fear.”
David Emm, Principal Security Researcher, Kaspersky Lab said: “These statistics demonstrate that smartphones are fast becoming the standard tool to browse, interact, shop and bank online. However, despite using them to access the same internet as traditional computers, many people do not think they require the same fully-fledged protection. Most people wouldn’t dream of doing their online banking on their laptop or PC without protection, so why wouldn’t the same apply when using your smartphone? Taking a common sense approach, together with installing mobile security software, will ensure you can enjoy the benefits of today’s digital age, while remaining one step ahead of online criminals.”
To ensure that British consumers are protected when they shop online, Barclays offers Kaspersky Lab’s award-winning internet security products free of charge to all its Online and Mobile Banking customers.
Barclays has 8,000 Digital Eagles in branch to help anyone that may be less tech-savvy to familiarise themselves with mobile and online banking.
The opinions expressed in this post belong to the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Information Security Buzz.