A new study has revealed which UK bank offers the most secure online service, and the most secure mobile service.

New research from consumer watchdog Which? saw fifteen bank’s security system protocols tested by a team of volunteers, while cybersecurity firm 6point6 deployed experts to test the banks’ defences across September and October last year.

An overall result was determined based on how secure the banks’ login systems were (30%), how well encrypted data were (40%), while account management, and navigation and logout accounted for another 15% each.

Thirteen banks were rated for their online services, with fifteen rated for their mobile services.

According to the results for online banking, HSBC came top, with an overall test score of 81%. It scored five out of five stars for encryption and account management, and four out of five on login, and navigation and logout.

Rounding out the top five in online were NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland on 75%; Barclays on 73%; and Santander and Starling, which both received 72%.

When it comes to mobile banking, First Direct came first with 77%. It saw strong performances in encryption and account management, receiving five stars, and four stars for login. However, it only received two stars for its navigation and logout.

Online banking top performer HSBC came in third in mobile banking with 71%, beaten by Barclays on 75%.

At the bottom of the online rankings was Metro Bank, on 53%, making it the least secure. While it scored a relatively high four out of five on encryption, it was let down by its login and logout practices, which both scored two out of five, and account management, which scored three out of five.

Second lowest was Virgin Money on 56%, with TSB coming third lowest at 59%.

In mobile banking, Monzo came last, on 46%. It scored three out of five in login and encryption, four out of five for account management, but only one out of five for navigation and logout.

Rounding out the bottom of mobile banking were TSB on 50% and Virgin Money on 52%.

For the most part, all thirteen online banks scored relatively highly in offering secure encryption. Seven of the banks scored five stars, with none scoring below three. This was echoed in the mobile banking categories, with seven receiving the full five stars.

However, many banks were let down by their navigation and logout functions. In the online category, only one bank got top marks, with six receiving two stars. The results were similar in mobile banking – two received five stars, but seven received two stars and four were even hit with one-star ratings.

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Security is essential for online banking. With cybercriminals increasingly going where the money is, attacking customers’ accounts is the logical end goal of a scam.

For the most part, banks have taken security seriously. Recent research showed that the banking industry generally scores low for the risk of a cyberattack. This is despite the vast number of malware attacks being levelled at financial services.

However, new developments and technology could change this in coming years. The rise of AI-powered deepfaking can help bypass traditional security. People’s voices or faces can be imitated by using even small amounts of data.

As scams become more sophisticated, criminals will have more tools available to access bank accounts, making it vital to ensure they are secure.

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