Security weaknesses at some UK banks could leave customers exposed to scammers, a new Which? investigation has found.
The consumer group tested banking website and app security across four key criteria — login procedures, security best practice, account management and navigation and logout — and these were then amalgamated to give a total score.
It was not able to test banks’ back-end security systems, but with the data gathered it was able to rate the best and worst firms for keeping customers safe.
This comes as more Brits are using mobile banking at record levels and as criminals view this as a gateway to people’s personal finances.
According to UK Finance’s most recent half-year fraud report, losses from mobile banking fraud rose 17% to £18.7m in the first six months of 2023 — the biggest recorded increase since it began collecting data on this fraud type in 2015. The number of cases shot up by 32% to 8,078, also the highest total recorded.
Which? said on Wednesday that while all firms do use multi-layered security, which helps reduce the likelihood of major security breaches, some firms fell short of the high standards customers should expect.
