28th November 2019

Digital payments give us greater flexibility. But are there risks?

Let’s be clear from the start: there never has been and never will be zero risk. Digital payments are becoming more practical and secure compared with cash payments. Lars Weber, Information Security Officer at Spuerkeess, talks to us about digital payment and personal data security.

If we take the example of cash payments, handling large amounts of cash is always tricky. The risk of losing notes or having your money stolen is very real.

Cheques or paper-based credit transfers were long the alternatives to cash, but again these types of payment were also not free of risk. Look at counterfeit cheques and cheques with non-sufficient funds. Compared with these traditional payment methods, digital payments significantly reduce risks if the basic security rules are followed.

The use of computers or smartphones that are up to date with the latest security patches, for instance, or being cautious with suspicious emails (i.e. phishing).

There are admittedly some residual risks with digital payments, but exploiting them requires a lot of effort and specialised expertise far above those necessary for traditional payment fraud.

We can therefore say that digital payments are not risk-free (like all payment types), but in absolute terms these residual risks are well under control.
Lars Weber

How is the security of my data ensured?

For obvious reasons, I can’t go into detail about data security at Spuerkeess. 

I can, however, guarantee that the customer data entrusted to the Bank are stored in highly secure internal systems. Even internally, these data can only be accessed if there is a proven need.

Data are transmitted through encryption.

If some of these data are transmitted (e.g. when you view your account summary in S-Net Mobile) this takes place through encryption between known and identified systems (e.g. our servers and your smartphone).

In addition to our duty and ambition to secure the bank’s data as effectively as possible, data protection is a priority for Spuerkeess as a result of the many data protection regulations (GDPR) and obligations (CSSF circulars, etc.) to which it is subject. 

Like any bank that meets its data protection obligations, Spuerkeess therefore protects its customers’ data in accordance with current practices.
Lars Weber

How secure is my mobile banking application?

S-Net Mobile is an application that was designed from the ground up to meet all the security requirements.

The technical architecture and the mobile application meet best security practices and are constantly updated.

The level of security is also frequently revalidated by specialists (ethical hackers) and our in-house teams constantly follow the cyber news to respond as quickly as possible if necessary.

The adoption of strong authentication (Luxtrust) completes the security concept of the application.

This all means that the application made available to our customers is very robust regarding security.

Payments Innovation