Why Companies are After DevSecOps for their Financial Mobile Apps

finance organizations and technology

Financial management is a tricky subject. No matter how well you are doing, there are chances that you will face difficulties in managing your finances. Whether you’re a business or a person single-handedly taking care of your finances, you might need assistance now or then. As people, we often get confused and tempted to spend our money the way we want. But, with long term and short term goals in mind, it becomes essential to take the assistance of a financial advisor.

Finance Organizations and Technology

Meanwhile, finance companies are leveraging technology to provide their services. Just like any other sector that needs the assistance of technology for wider reach and betterment of services, the financial sector is not far behind for the same.

There was a time when financial institutions were only physical entities. In other words, people had to go to banks to get things done and while this was okay for a long period, it also caused a certain level of inconvenience. And then the wave of digitization finally came in. Just like all other industries, the banking and finance industry also underwent a transition.

One of the most drastic shifts in the past few years has been that the financial institutions have moved to digital. Mobile-first banks have emerged. And more to this, people have started using mobile services for banking and finance more than ever. When we say this, it means not only has the usage of credit and debit cards emerged but also the integrated banking and financial services.

Payments Becoming Simpler

One of the biggest examples of this is UPI. The unified payment interface where every customer with a bank account is given a unique UPI id has become excessively popular. Most people are now using one or more forms of UPI payment apps that facilitate one-tap access to payment and more. Even though many are worried about the security implications, there is a lot of ease and convenience that it brings to the table.

Therefore, with the innovation that financial apps have brought to people, there are a lot of vulnerabilities that need to be explored. Mobile apps that ease the finance and banking day to day tasks have sensitive information with them.

This includes the bank details of the customer, the blind phone number, user id details and more. The slightest impact on any of these can cause horrible damage to the finance of the individual or institution depending upon its nature. Moreover, it also destroys the reputation of the mobile app and the underlying banking service provider.

Security and Features

In most mobile applications, the level of security is judged based upon the nature of the transactions. Whether the transactions are successful or not, depends upon them. Similarly, other parameters need to be taken care of.

For example, a financial app must not let any other app draw over it. Because several third-party applications can draw over the app and get hold of the crucial information. In such a situation it becomes extremely difficult to manage the security.

Having said this, it is already a fact that the financial institution is one of the most regulated bodies in the world. This means that since the very nature involves direct transfers of money, payments and more, the authorities behind it already take adequate precautions for the same.

However, the real dilemma arrives when organizations have to choose between providing facilities and securing vulnerabilities. There has to be an adequate tradeoff between the two since none of these are available completely. And that’s because if they compromise over securities, the slightest interference can cause huge losses to the customers. Therefore, prevention of any type of breach becomes extremely important. Similarly, if the facilities are not adequate, this would mean that the app is seldom providing any real benefits to the users.

The Need for DevSecOps

You might have seen several apps left with negative reviews on the play store. This means that one small mistake comes under the radar of the customers. There is no scope of mistakes when it comes to making decisions for a financial application.

When it comes to the regulations of financial apps, there are several levels. They don’t just comply with traditional rules but also with international standards. Depending upon the broad region where one falls into, financial apps have to update their privacy policies and make the changes as the law suggests. Similarly, one has to receive the consent of the customers, before processing their data.

The growing approach and need to provide valuable and secure DevOps consulting services is making companies shift towards more reliable technologies. One such robust technology that is emerging is DevSecOps. It is imperative to implement a security environment in financial mobile apps and this has to be done from the planning stage. Therefore, regular information has to be integrated by security checks and core security tasks into the software development life cycle.

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