Barclays offers free mobile banking security

Barclays is offering free security software to its mobile banking customers.

It is the first financial services provider to do so, recognising that customers are increasingly performing financial transactions on their mobile phones.

Barclays has signed up anti-malware vendor Kaspersky Lab as the software provider.

Kaspersky will supply Barclays’ customers with free anti-virus, anti-spam and anti-theft protection, downloadable from the Barclays.mobi site.

The offer adds to the free Kaspersky internet security software that Barclays provided its internet banking customers with last year.

Kaspersky sales director Simon Geach said the software doesn’t just protect the phone’s operating system from malware – it also protects secure data stored on the handset, including banking details, text messages, and contacts.

“The main emphasis of the product is to tell people that they can secure their device so that anything stored on it can be protected in the event of it being stolen,” Geach said.

Sean Gilchrist, Barclays director of electronic banking, said: “It’s important that customers protect their mobile phones in the same way they do their computers from all threats by downloading this new software.”

Barclays also announced that it is revamping its mobile website to make online mobile banking ‘more intuitive’.