In this article, I put together the core cybersecurity measures for three financial technology cases: integration, cloud adoption, and API maintenance. All the tips are from the experience of our solution development team at INSART and will help achieve the near invincibility of your solution.
Keeping sensitive data safe during the integration process
While you may not have insomnia due to the challenge of protecting customer data, it’s definitely a cause to worry. Here are some options to ensure that user data remains secure, and you can rest assured:
- Why even need data: Some companies, like Advisor Software, choose to eliminate all personally identifiable information (PII) from their APIs. This way, the client side will remain hidden and safe when vendors use the APIs. Limiting access to data can provide an added layer of protection against potential breaches. This article has a few more examples of restricting data access.
- Get some privacy: Private cloud can offer robust data security controls, improved personalization and configuration options, and enhanced regulatory compliance. However, weighing the risks, including biting costs and the extra sweat of maintenance and management responsibilities, is crucial. Also, you might face a certain limit to the system’s scalability and flexibility, which makes the public cloud a more attractive option.
- Protection multiplied: Implement multilayered data protection as a must-have security practice. Wrap your solution in two-factor authentication, ongoing cyber threat intelligence, firewalls, antivirus solutions, and data encryption matching NIST standards.
Remember that both teams must coordinate efforts and align on security standards to maximize the prevention of exploits.
Securing the cloud
When choosing a cloud service provider (CSP), it's crucial to understand the Shared Responsibility Model (SRM), which outlines security responsibilities for both the customer (you) and the CSP. While CSPs are typically obliged to take care of infrastructure security, customers must attend to firewalls and databases and keep an eye on app access. Here are additional steps to take:
- Clearly define security objectives: Outline specific targets and requirements for safeguarding sensitive data and mitigating potential risks.
- Formulate comprehensive permission policies: Define access levels, user roles, and authorization protocols to ensure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive data or perform critical actions.
- Implement robust logging and monitoring rules: Establish real-time monitoring of system activities, audit trails, and anomaly detection to detect and respond to security incidents or breaches quickly.
- Choose appropriate data encryption: Select the most suitable data encryption model, such as symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption, or hashing, based on your system's security needs to ensure data remains confidential and protected from unauthorized access or tampering.
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Securing APIs
API security is critical to protecting your apps from cyber risks. Regular security assessments from penetration testing specialists can help identify vulnerabilities and ensure cyber resilience. While many know that constant data security and customer privacy monitoring is essential, not everyone provides it’s consistent and all-inclusive. Add these practices to your API care list:
- API vulnerability management: Conduct obligatory code reviews to prevent poor and vulnerable coding from becoming a breach in your Fintech software and reduce the number of bugs right from the beginning. Your development team must have experienced senior members who can review the code to the character.
- Implement two-step validation: Use validation to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data, such as passwords and API keys. It’s important to validate data client- and server-side to maximize the efficiency of this method.
- Monitor API usage: Implement constant and automated tracking of API usage to identify suspicious traffic patterns and prevent potential DDoS attacks or unauthorized access using compromised credentials.
- Establish strict API access controls and accountability: Implement measures to minimize the risk of insider threats, including credentials stealing, and document normalizing and validation.
Wrapping it up on cybersecurity
Developing a comprehensive cybersecurity plan for a Fintech company requires a multi-faceted approach that includes risk assessment, employee training, incident response planning, access control, regular updates and patches, data backup and recovery, and continuous monitoring. By following these best practices, Fintechs can better protect their assets and maintain customer trust.
Suppose you need your software development team to perform up to the highest cybersecurity standard. In that case, INSART’s experts can ensure multi-level protection from the first till the last day of development and beyond, during the support of your product. Schedule a quick intro call to learn more about our approach to software engineering.