South Africans ought to guarantee they solely obtain banking apps from official app shops.
Cellular banking apps supply a handy and protected method to transact and pay on-line and most of South Africa’s main banks supply these apps on each the Google Play and Apple App shops.
Nevertheless, with Huawei’s newest gadgets not supporting the Play Retailer, these customers must make use of Huawei’s AppGallery to obtain and use banking apps.
FNB, Discovery Bank and Commonplace Bank’s apps will not be formally accessible on the Huawei AppGallery but, however their APK (Android Package deal Kits) may be downloaded and put in through unofficial web sites and different on-line platforms.
Sure smartphone customers may, subsequently, be tempted to obtain considered one of these APKs to make use of their bank’s app, although these websites supply no assure that the app is respectable.
MyBroadband requested South Africa’s main banks concerning the security of downloading banking purposes from sources aside from the established cell app shops.
Absa
Managing Government for Buyer Worth Administration at Absa Retail and Enterprise Bank Christine Wu stated the bank recurrently invests in new, up to date applied sciences to counteract numerous fraud vectors, together with the app area.
Absa has not famous situations of fraudulent variations of its cell banking app, though clones of its web sites have been used for phishing.
Wu urged Absa clients to solely obtain cell apps from accredited cell shops – the Google Play Retailer for Android, Huawei AppGallery for Huawei, and Apple App Retailer for iOS gadgets.
“Very stringent processes and tests are carried out by app stores to ensure that only Absa can publish an app with the Absa brand and security specifications,” Wu defined.
“Downloading an app from any other source is extremely dangerous. Apart from being fraudulent, there are no rigorous security and quality steps, potentially leading to further problems beyond the fraud,” Wu warned.
FNB
FNB Head of Digital Banking Giuseppe Virgillito stated the bank has put measures and processes in place to observe spoofing apps.
“‘Sideloading’ or downloading the FNB App Android Package Kits (APKs) from unofficial sources, significantly increases the risk of downloading a fraudulent or malicious app which could compromise the user’s credentials and potentially have them exposed to fraud and possible financial loss,” Virgillito warned.
“We implore our customers to download the FNB Banking App from official app stores – for Apple mobile users the App Store and Android the Play Store,” he stated.
For these clients who’ve a tool that doesn’t at the moment assist FNB’s banking app, Virgillito inspired utilizing FNB’s cell banking web site – fnb.co.za accessed through their cellphone’s internet browser.
Commonplace Bank
Commonplace Bank stated it has not seen situations of malicious events creating spoof banking apps.
The bank stated though it’s not simple to evaluate the entire on-line behaviour of its clients, it scans the web and social media platforms for malicious apps, web sites and content material impersonating Commonplace Bank, and the place discovered, these are shut down.
“The commonest type of cybercrime just lately has been phishing for credentials on spoof web sites in addition to vishing [voice phishing] and smishing [sms phishing],” the bank stated.
The bank stated downloading banking apps from unofficial websites makes it troublesome to find out if they’re respectable.
“Only access or download our banking apps from trusted sources such as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store,” the bank implored.
It warned clients to by no means click on on hyperlinks or attachments in emails, SMSes or public web sites to entry or obtain on-line banking or its banking app.
Nedbank
Nedbank stated it makes use of a third-party service to scour the web for situations the place unauthorised copies of its apps can be found for obtain, to have these eliminated.
Up to now, nevertheless, it had not seen such apps surfacing.
“Unofficial apps could serve as a trojan horse, allowing malware to be installed on the device. Thus, compromising data or passing credentials and sensitive personal information to malicious actors,” the bank cautioned.
“All Nedbank apps are digitally signed, and if the code of the app has been altered in any way, Nedbank will not allow that app to transact,” it defined.
Nedbank’s banking app is accessible from the official Apple, Google and Huawei app shops.
Moreover, Nedbank shoppers are suggested to not use jailbroken Apple or rooted Android gadgets for banking app set up.
“A jailbroken/rooted device puts users as a significant risk, as almost all security controls can then be circumvented, even when using legitimate apps,” the bank acknowledged.
Capitec
Capitec stated it actively screens for impersonating variations of its banking app and if one is discovered, its group will guarantee the shop or web site removes it instantly.
To this point, it had not encountered such an app.
It really useful clients don’t obtain app APKs from unofficial sources, which may expose their gadgets to malicious software program.
“Apps from unofficial sources could contain malicious code added to the app with the intention of capturing sensitive information such as your username and password,” Capitec defined.
“Solely obtain apps from official app shops comparable to the Apple App Retailer, Google Play and Huawei AppGallery as these shops have controls in place to make sure the security and legitimacy of the apps accessible,” it suggested.
It added that customers ought to at all times verify that the writer identify matches the corporate you supposed to obtain the app from and skim the evaluations and rankings posted concerning the app.
Discovery Bank
Discovery Bank stated it employs subtle counter expertise to determine and forestall unapproved apps making an attempt to entry banking performance.
“We work closely with Apple, Google, and Huawei to ensure our app is secure and works optimally on a wide range of devices,” the bank stated.
“Cyber-crime is on the rise, and clients need to ensure they keep devices secure by only downloading and using apps that are approved by their respective operating system providers,” the bank acknowledged.
It strongly suggested its clients to solely obtain its banking app from the Google Play Retailer and the Apple App Retailer.
The Discovery Bank app can even be accessible on the Huawei AppGallery within the coming weeks.
