Barclays has become the first major organisation to receive a new UK government cyber security certification for its digital banking services.
Part of the government's cyber security strategy, the Cyber Essentials scheme is designed to assess the controls that organisations have in place to deal with increasingly prevalent Internet-borne threats.
The scheme's framework was developed by the non-profit Council for Registered Ethical Security Testers (Crest) in collaboration with GCHQ information security arm CESG.
Barclays brought in Crest-accredited Gotham Digital Science to carry out an assessment of its digital banking services, including MyBarclays, BMB and Pingit. To get the certification the bank had to complete the Cyber Essentials questionnaire and submit to an external perimeter vulnerability scan.
Philip Sowter, director, mobile banking, Barclays, says: "We identified this new government scheme as an important part of our plans to help customers in the digital age transact completely safely and securely."
Justin Clarke, MD, Gotham Digital Science, adds: "The certification gives Barclays an opportunity to showcase its leadership in digital banking, and reinforces the importance the bank places on protecting customer assets and data."