How you manage the public fall-out from a cyberattack is in many respects just as important as how it is being dealt with internally. Whist, at the time of writing, the details of the Tesco Bank incident have yet to be revealed, they can be applauded for opening the lines of communication quickly, but is that enough to calm panic and maintain trust?
It is not only the Tesco Bank brand that risks being damaged by this latest high-profile attack. It focuses the mind of many online banking customer that perhaps think they could be the next victim. They want to be assured that their bank has the right checks and balances in place to keep their money out of harm’s way. Of course, customers know that there are safeguards in place to recoup any financial losses, however this does nothing to quell the initial distress and inconvenience when it happens. Anyone, that has had the call from their banks Fraud Team will have experienced this.
Some of the major high-street banks are spending big on profile educational initiatives teach basic cyber-security best practice, such as Barclays TV ads that were recently aired. But here is the twist… Yes, customers will worry that their money is safe and they will move if they perceive a risk, but given the choice, they will always favour convenience over security!
Education is important, but aside from telling customers not to use public Wi-Fi when banking online, not sharing login details with others, and practicing good password management (whatever that may be) but what else is actually being done that is visible to the customer and will make a significant difference?
Banks need to think about giving customers something tangible that they can see and do to help themselves and the bank to be more secure, and I am not talking about those hideous key-ring tokens, remember my point about convenience! Yes, it does need to be multi-factor, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be complicated. In fact, contrary to popular belief you can have authentication that is both simple yet secure.
And if you want an example then take a look at our Authlogics for Retail Banking Platform
Author: Kamber Devjianie, Global Account Manager at Authlogics
