Received January 2024; Accepted March 2024; Available online June 2024 | Guma Ali, Maad M. Mijwil, Bosco Apparatus Buruga, Mostafa Abotaleb
This paper provides a comprehensive review of cybersecurity issues and mitigation measures in the FinTech sector. It begins by examining the history and evolution of FinTech, including its drivers, segments, ecosystem, business model, and applications. The paper then delves into the most pressing cybersecurity issues confronting FinTech firms, such as privacy concerns, data breaches, malware attacks, hacking, insider threats, identity theft, social engineering attacks, and distributed denial-of-service attacks. To address these issues, the paper evaluates various mitigation strategies and best practices, including technological solutions like authentication and access control mechanisms, cryptography, big data analytics, intrusion detection/prevention systems, regular data backup, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud computing technologies, blockchain technologies, and fraud detection and prevention systems. The paper also emphasizes the importance of regulatory sandboxes, regulatory compliance, basic security training, continuous threat monitoring, zero-trust policies, robust cybersecurity culture, regular testing, and stringent security policies to strengthen the cyber resilience of the FinTech ecosystem. Based on empirical research, industry reports, and regulatory guidelines, the review highlights existing information and upcoming trends in FinTech cybersecurity, advocating for a collaborative strategy involving industry stakeholders, regulators, legislators, and cybersecurity specialists to effectively address the growing cyber threat situation. The ultimate goal is to develop robust security mechanisms for FinTech systems and networks to achieve sustainable financial inclusion.This paper provides a comprehensive review of cybersecurity issues and mitigation measures in the FinTech sector. It begins by examining the history and evolution of FinTech, including its drivers, segments, ecosystem, business model, and applications. The paper then delves into the most pressing cybersecurity issues confronting FinTech firms, such as privacy concerns, data breaches, malware attacks, hacking, insider threats, identity theft, social engineering attacks, and distributed denial-of-service attacks. To address these issues, the paper evaluates various mitigation strategies and best practices, including technological solutions like authentication and access control mechanisms, cryptography, big data analytics, intrusion detection/prevention systems, regular data backup, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud computing technologies, blockchain technologies, and fraud detection and prevention systems. The paper also emphasizes the importance of regulatory sandboxes, regulatory compliance, basic security training, continuous threat monitoring, zero-trust policies, robust cybersecurity culture, regular testing, and stringent security policies to strengthen the cyber resilience of the FinTech ecosystem. Based on empirical research, industry reports, and regulatory guidelines, the review highlights existing information and upcoming trends in FinTech cybersecurity, advocating for a collaborative strategy involving industry stakeholders, regulators, legislators, and cybersecurity specialists to effectively address the growing cyber threat situation. The ultimate goal is to develop robust security mechanisms for FinTech systems and networks to achieve sustainable financial inclusion.