Securing your data: Top cybersecurity tips for cross-border fintechs

One of the un-changing facts about the fintech industry is the truth about it always expanding, especially with regards to cross-border payments and the operations of how connecting users and financial systems globally works.

While these latest innovations provide convenience and access, it also exposes fintechs more to threats, hacks, and all other web of cybersecurity challenges. A single data breach can lead to huge financial losses, hefty regulatory fines can be attracted, and business-damaging effects to customers’ trust.

Let’s learn from this example to understand the context better: The First American Financial Corp. Data Breach

In 2019, it was made public that a flaw in the website design of First American Financial Corp. exposed over 800 million documents online, with some of the exposed data containing sensitive personal information of the real estate loan resettlement services company, that goes back to 2003.

This “design defect”, spotted by a cybersecurity journalist, reportedly allowed anyone with a document link to access other unrelated documents by changing a single number/digit in the URL; it was a really bad experience that attracted the SEC’s attention.

This incident wasn’t exactly a hack but a negligence of access controls, demonstrating the huge consequences of a system not properly and efficiently configured. This gap led to a massive data leak, putting customers’ details (from bank account numbers, to Social Security numbers, and driver’s licenses) at risk.

This case serves as a powerful reminder that continuous security system audits and proper access controls management are foundational to preventing data exposure in any company that cares to survive and flourish; it matters more now that there are sophisticated tools to access data in this age.

How does this apply to cross-border fintechs?

The lesson in this story exemplifies the need for fintech founders and stakeholders to not just build products with a superficial promise of securing their customers data, and even their own data; startups should be very intentional about safeguarding the entire ecosystem they run, in order to keep customers’ trust intact.

How can this be done? Here are some of the top and globally-recognized cybersecurity tips to ensure your data, as a fintech that deals with cross-border (remittance) payments, remains secured and protected:

1. Embrace a Zero-Trust Security Model

Before we mention the first of the tips, it’s important to know about the existing and popular security measure, that is the Traditional security system. This system relies heavily on a perimeter defense, trusting anything that comes from inside the network its being run.

As a fintech company that wants to survive (and even avoid) infrastructure breach as much as possible, this security system is insufficient in today’s interconnected world hence, the first thing to do (the tip), is to embrace “A zero-trust model”, one that operates on a simple principle: “never trust, always verify.”

Every user, device, and application attempting to access resources must be authenticated and authorized, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the network. This approach is not just critical for mitigating insider threats but also helps you in securing third-party API integrations (before and after integration), which are the backbone of modern fintech services.

2. Implement Robust API Security

As mentioned in the first tip, integration of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) is arguably unavoidable for latest innovations in finance hence the need to protect them intentionally, as much as possiuble.

In fintech, your APIs enable everything for your product, from payment processing to customer verification, therefore your APIs must be secured with strong authentication, authorization, and rate limiting to prevent common threats like API abuse and DDoS attacks (some of the key things we prioritize for our API development at Sendsprint).

Regularly test your API(s) security and scan it (them) for any potential vulnerability in order to be sure that your endpoints are not exposed.

3. Strengthen Your Fraud Detection with AI and Machine Learning

As fintechs are innovating, Cybercriminals in the same way are also becoming more ‘innovative’ in the current world, with AI now available to even ‘power’ their attacks, your defenses must evolve to match this threat and stay safe.

From using the mimicking of user behavior to bypass traditional security systems to other sophisticated style of cyber crimes, this deserves a level of security that is dynamic and adaptive to detect any form of threat miles away.

By leveraging the same AI and machine learning technology, security systems (tools) can be built to analyze vast amounts of transactional data in real-time, helping you to identify unusual behavior, detect fraud patterns, and flag suspicious activity before it escalates into a full-blown breach with heavy consequences.

4. Foster a Culture of Cybersecurity Awareness

Technology alone is not enough and many times (if not most times), human error leads the causes of data breaches.

You need to foster a strong culture of cybersecurity in your startup operations, which means ensuring that every employee, from associates to the C-suite level, understands their role in protecting sensitive data carefully.

Regular training sessions on phishing awareness, how to properly handle & share data, securing password practices, and many other related practices should be made non-negotiable; it saves your customer and keeps your business alive.

How Sendsprint helps Cross-Border Fintechs overcome Security Hurdles

The challenges that already exist for fintechs operating across borders, from work of sorting international regulations, licensing requirements, and varying compliance standards, is enough to make a fintech product not succee. With security issues at hand, it is important for fintech founders and stakeholders to look for a better way to launch or scale, while staying secured and still not lose their compliant status.

As a strategic brand, Sendsprint is positioned to make this work less burdensome for Fintechs playing in the US money service business, with infrastructural support while also giving the critical difference of being a secured partner.

Sendsprint’s Market Entry Toolkit is designed to help fintechs navigate complex licensing needs faster, with a secure-by-design approach. By providing a licensed and compliant “Remittance as a Service” (RaaS) platform, the toolkit enables businesses to have:

• Regulatory Compliance: The infrastructure provides a full BSA/AML program, real-time transaction monitoring, and comprehensive audit trails, ensuring that operations meets legal frameworks in multiple states in the US.
• Fraud Rules Management: A built-in anti-fraud and fraud rules management engine that proactively identifies and mitigates risks for the product security enhancement.
• Secure Infrastructure: Furthermore, the toolkit also offer robust, enterprise-grade infrastructure that includes secure ACH, Wire & FX payment rails, and real-time OFAC/PEP screening, protecting the business and customers from financial crime.

By leveraging a platform like Sendsprint, you (as a fintech business owner) can better focus your time on scaling your business, secure your system efficiently, while you’re confident that your cross-border operations are based on a secure, compliant, and tested infrastructure.

Ready to secure your cross-border fintech and accelerate your market entry with confidence?

Book a demo with Sendsprint today