NatWest Bank has partnered with Malwarebytes to provide endpoint protection software to NatWest customers. Malwarebytes Premium edition will be available to download for free from within NatWest customer’s online banking portal. NatWest is the only UK bank to provide premium virus protection to their customers according to Alasdair MacFarlane, Head of Fraud Prevention at NatWest.
Online Banking, like many online services, has seen a surge of popularity in the first half of 2020, matched only by a surge in related fraud. UK Finance, the banking trade group, reported an 84% increase in impersonation scams alone in the first half of 2020 – costing £58million.
By helping customers keep their computers more secure, NatWest may benefit from reduced customer support costs and reduced fraud in the future.
They are not alone in thinking that it makes good business sense to spend a little to help customers improve their computer security. In the USA an insurance broker recently reported a 65% drop in ransomware claims when they started insisting on vulnerability scans before accepting new clients.
“We were very impressed with the service, I will say, the vulnerability found was one our previous organisation had not picked up, which does make you wonder if anything else was missed.”
Aim Ltd Chief Technology Officer (CTO)