Cyber Security Challenges Facing Fintech and Financial Services
Fintech and financial services organisations depend on interconnected applications, APIs, payment systems, mobile platforms, and cloud infrastructure to deliver fast, accessible digital services.
These technologies enable rapid product development and seamless transactions, but they also create complex attack surfaces. A weakness in authentication, authorisation, application logic or system configuration could expose financial data, facilitate fraud or interrupt services relied upon by customers and business partners.
Effective cyber security for financial services therefore requires more than automated scanning and policy-based controls. Independent fintech penetration testing examines how systems respond to realistic attack techniques and whether existing safeguards provide effective protection.
Rapid Product Development
Fintech organisations often operate demanding release cycles, introducing new functionality, APIs and third-party integrations at speed.
Without effective security testing, weaknesses in access controls, deployment configurations and business logic can reach production. Independent testing helps identify exploitable issues without unnecessarily slowing product delivery.
Complex APIs and Integrations
Modern financial platforms rely heavily on APIs that connect mobile applications, payment services, open banking providers, identity platforms, and other third parties.
Weak object-level authorisation, excessive data exposure or insecure integrations can create direct routes to customer information and financial functionality.
Fraud and Business-Logic Abuse
Some of the most serious fintech vulnerabilities do not result from outdated software. They arise from flaws in transaction workflows, account permissions, verification processes and application-specific business logic.
Our consultants assess how functionality could be manipulated to bypass intended controls, alter transactions, abuse incentives or access another user’s account.
Benefits of Fintech Penetration Testing
Fintech penetration testing gives your organisation evidence of how applications, APIs and infrastructure respond to realistic attack techniques.
Rather than relying solely on automated findings, our consultants investigate whether vulnerabilities can be exploited, how weaknesses could be combined and what impact an attacker could achieve. This helps your teams prioritise remediation and make informed security decisions.
Identify Exploitable Vulnerabilities
Find weaknesses across applications, APIs, mobile platforms, cloud services and supporting infrastructure before attackers do.
Protect Financial and Customer Data
Assess whether sensitive account, payment, identity and transaction data could be accessed, altered or extracted without authorisation.
Reduce Fraud and Service Disruption
Identify weaknesses in transaction flows, permissions and business logic that could enable fraud, outages or wider compromise.
Support Compliance and Assurance
Provide independent technical evidence to support customer due diligence, procurement and relevant regulatory or security requirements.
Penetration Testing Services for Fintech
Web Application Penetration Testing
Assess online banking portals, payment platforms, administrative systems and other public or authenticated web applications.
Network Penetration Testing
Assess internal and external networks for vulnerabilities that could enable unauthorised access, privilege escalation or lateral movement.
API Penetration Testing
Assess APIs that connect web applications, mobile platforms, payment processors, identity providers, and open banking services.
Mobile Application Penetration Testing
Assess iOS and Android financial applications through static and dynamic testing.
Cloud Penetration Testing
Assess fintech platforms hosted in AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud.
Red Team Assessment
Evaluate how your organisation detects and responds to controlled, realistic multi-stage attacks conducted against agreed objectives.
Supporting Financial Services Security and Compliance
Financial organisations may be subject to multiple regulatory, contractual and industry requirements depending on their services, customers and geographic reach.
Sencode provides independent technical testing and reporting that can support security-assurance activities and help organisations demonstrate that relevant systems have been assessed.
FCA Operational Resilience
Applicable FCA firms must identify their important business services, establish impact tolerances and test their ability to remain within those tolerances during severe but plausible disruption. Penetration testing can help identify technical weaknesses affecting the systems that support these services.
PCI DSS
PCI DSS establishes technical and operational requirements for protecting payment-account data. Where applicable, penetration testing can assess systems within the cardholder data environment and verify whether network segmentation controls provide effective isolation.
DORA
Penetration testing can support wider DORA digital operational resilience testing requirements. Where threat-led penetration testing applies, the engagement must meet specific regulatory requirements covering provider suitability, scope, methodology, execution and remediation.
ISO 27001
Penetration testing can provide supporting evidence for vulnerability management, risk treatment and the assessment of technical controls within an ISO 27001-aligned information security management system.
Our Financial Services Penetration Testing Process
Contact a consulting team member by phone, email, or post. We will then discuss whether we can help you and arrange a scoping meeting to discuss your requirements.
In the scoping meeting, our team will discuss your requirements in further detail. Our team will ask questions regarding the following:
- Assets
- Asset Locations
- Test Perspective
- Objectives
- Scoping
- Date & Time
- Technologies
- Frameworks
Our expert consultants will discuss and finalise which digital assets you need testing in the scoping meeting. Based on the requirements, we will then assemble a project proposal and quote and agree on a schedule for conducting the security assessment.
Our proposal document will include the following information:
- Client Information
- Test Perspective
- Test Constraints
- Test Framework
- Scope Information
- Determined Scope
- Deliverables
- Quote & Authorisation (Signature)
The Penetration Testing starts. A member of our Penetration Testing team will liaise with a member of your company throughout the entire testing process. You will be the first to know if we have any questions or concerns. Our testing team will be on hand throughout the penetration test lifecycle to answer any questions or concerns.
Our tester will:
- Keep you updated
- Provide end of day summaries
- Liaise with the point of contact
- Test using a strict methodology
- Document evidence
- Maintain confidentiality
- Provide real-time alerts
- Deliver detailed reports
A Penetration Test is useless without a well-written report. Our reports are written in plain English, concise, and thoroughly documented. The Penetration Test Report is typically furnished within 5 days after the testing phase is complete. If you are interested in seeing an example report, please contact our team.
Each report details the following:
- Context & Objectives
- Mailing List
- Period and Confidentiality
- Perimeter & Scope
- Environment Overview
- Executive Summary
- Findings Summary & Table
- Technical Details
At Sencode, we offer free retesting for every Penetration Test we conduct. You fix the issues; then we will verify they can no longer be exploited by an attacker. Our team will arrange a mutually suitable time to conduct the retest, after the remediation efforts have taken place.
Our tester will follow these steps:
- Arrange Access
- Ask what issues have been resolved
- Retest the issues in the report
- Provide end of day summaries
- Update the document
- Deliver the document
- Offer a retest debriefing
- Debrief with your team
Deliver a Security Testing Certificate
Our clients receive a testing certificate that can be shared with partners and customers, showing that their company takes security seriously. The certificate and document are designed to be easily digested by third-party suppliers; the document removes the technical details and can be safely distributed.
The Security Testing Certificate is available on request after the retest has been completed. The security certificate shows:
- Date of the assessment
- Company name
- Client name
- Outstanding issues
- Resolved Issues
- Updated risk profile
- Environment Overview
- Executive Summary
What does choosing a CREST provider mean?
CREST accreditation is an independent, rigorous assessment of technical competence, process and data security. Choosing a CREST-accredited provider means your testing is delivered to a standard you can trust – and evidence you can stand behind.
Certified Penetration Testing Consultants
Our consultants are highly trained and individually certified.
Proven Pen Test Methodologies
Our pen testing follows recognised best practices: PTES, OWASP, and NIST.
Compliant reporting
Our reports provide executive context, technical evidence, risk-rated findings and practical remediation guidance.
ISO aligned
Our information security and quality policies align with ISO 27001 and ISO 9001.
Grey, Black and White Box Penetration Testing
At Sencode, we test from every perspective. Not sure which fits your needs? Speak to a member of our team; our experts are on hand to advise.
Client Testimonials
Don’t just trust our word for it; hear what our clients have to say about working with our team.
“The team at Sencode are flexible and easy to work with while also being extremely diligent and professional in what they do. As a result, we regard Sencode as a critical partner in ensuring our software is properly tested.”
Chief Technical Officer
Huler
“We held a briefing meeting with Callum to demo the system, answer relevant questions, and provide access for testing. Once the testing was completed, the report was efficient and comprehensive.”
Project Manager
Trinity College Dublin
“The team was super friendly, knowledgeable, and happy to chat with us. They did really great work, and I’m very happy that we got to work with them.”
IT Director
Diversity and Ability
“All conversations with Sencode have been very easy, and it’s clear that the team know their stuff. From the initial chat to the retesting process, we’ve been kept informed and supported throughout.”
Digital Lead
Verve Group
“Sencode have conducted our penetration testing for the last two years. Each time, they were professional, polite and kept us informed throughout the process. The reports were received in a timely manner and were concisely written. All this and at a competitive rate.”
Technical Engineer
Pip Studios
“Working with Sencode has been brilliant. You can tell they genuinely love what they do – it shows in how thoroughly they test everything and dig into the details. Even a non-tech person could understand what they found and what needed fixing.”
Cyber Security Specialist
Home Group
Frequently Asked Questions: Fintech Pen Testing
Annual penetration testing is a common assurance baseline, but there is no single frequency that applies to every financial organisation.
The appropriate schedule depends on regulatory requirements, contractual obligations, platform risk and the frequency of technical change. Additional testing should be considered after significant application releases, infrastructure changes, cloud migrations, new integrations or changes to authentication and payment workflows.
Yes. Sencode can assess APIs connecting financial applications, payment services, identity platforms and authorised third parties. The precise scope depends on which systems Sencode is authorised to test and whether third-party permission is required.
Yes. Where suitable test accounts are provided, Sencode can assess horizontal and vertical access controls between users, roles, organisations and tenants.
Contact us
Get a free, no obligation quote from one of our expert staff.