Sixty five percent of US banks fail the security test based on the 2017 Online Trust Audit & Honor Roll by Online Trust Alliance.
Even though online banking sites are supposed to have the best security in place, the study shows failing grades for the majority of the top 100 financial institutions in the US.
Less than half of US banks scored 80%
Also known OTA, the study was done to enhance online trust and efficiency for online businesses by running audits for business websites. This includes 1,000 websites, 100 of which are that of financial institutions. The results show that only 27 out of 100 US banks got ‘Honor Roll’ status - it essentially means they scored more than 80 percent in the security analysis.
The study covers three main aspects of the security namely site privacy, overall website security, and customer protection.
In contrast, 2016 results showed 55 percent of financial sites made it to ‘Honor Roll’ status, which means this year’s result is significantly lower most likely due to major site crashes and data breaches that occurred this year.
ABA questions study’s credibility
Although OTA has been one of the credible websites for most people when reviewing websites’ security, American Bankers Association raises questions about the credibility of the study.
Senior Vice President of Payment and Security of the American Bankers Association Doug Johnson told NBC News that banks “absolutely take privacy and security very seriously.”
Need for better online security
IBTimes reports that quite a few banking websites are actually cluttered with trackers, posing potential security risks for their consumers. For example, PNC Financial Services ranks the highest in terms of number of trackers installed.
The whole financial industry seems to lag behind when it comes to overall security. It raises red flags for consumers whether to trust online services with their sensitive information especially when it involves financial transactions.
The OTA analysis just came in weeks after a study conducted by online privacy company eBlocker found out that 10 of the top financial institutions operating in the US have third-party trackers on their website - such setup can record a surprisingly huge amount of information including personal information typed into forms, and even account balances.
Such alarming results for some of the trust financial institutions could be what’s causing some consumers to turn to Blockchain technology for more secured transactions.