Development of Usable Security Heuristics for Fintech.

Abstract

Investments in cybersecurity over the years have led to the availability of strong technical countermeasures and innovations that are being increasingly leveraged to strengthen the security posture of financial services systems. The effort to improve the security posture of the human element of financial services systems has not matched the effort in developing technical countermeasures, thereby undoing the gains of the later. One area where such problem exist is in Fintech where emphasis is placed on developing innovative and secured technical financial models aimed at making financial services more accessible through the mobile phone. These Fintech solutions however have shortcomings in securing the human element. This study seeks to address this problem through the development of heuristics that can be applied in the evaluation or design of Usable Security in Fintech. This study developed twelve (12) initial Usable Security heuristics which were validated through expert review. The heuristics were developed through an iterative approach that comprises a survey of Fintech users, semi-structured interviews of Fintech solution providers and thematic analysis of relevant literature. The findings of the study show that application of the developed heuristic provides for Usable Security.