HSBC App blocked

[Yoozer]

HSBC have blocked use of the mobile app on my phone, incorrectly citing ESET Mobile Security as an unauthorised app. Their suggestion to restore the HSBC app functionality is to uninstall or disable ESET Mobile Security. I do not think that disabling my phone security to please HSBC will in fact make my phone more secure, despite HSBC's assertion that this is in fact a good thing for me. Do any other HK banks have this problem?

[Peaky]

You may run into similar issues with other bank apps, as HKMA mandated various uplifts in safeguards for Android after various recent frauds with apps that are able to screen grab and/or capture keystrokes. The programmed behaviour for the app if a threat is detected is to force “crash” the app so it closes down completely. Haven't heard of the sort of blocking you describe though and I am surprised ESET being on your phone is triggering this... is it installed directly from the app store, and is your phone on stock firmware and not rooted etc? Worth calling and asking the relevant team to explain in more detail.

[shri]

From a recent announcement this is going to creep into Octopus and other stored value wallets... Give it time.

What peaky says is spot on, call the help desk.

Also, I generally recommend if you are on an Android phone which allows multiple users or profiles, setup a vanilla profile / login with nothing but your banking apps. You DO NOT need daily regular access all the time to your banking app. If your phone is not rooted and if you have a vanilla profile you should be fine running that profile without security software.

in my opinion... I am not a security guy or a tech guy or a compliance guy.. just a random guy

[Yoozer]

Thanks, Peaky.
My phone is completely bog standard Samsung with apps installed from the app store. Very frustrating.

[Yoozer]

Thanks, Shri. I will look into that but one of the things I like about ESET is its payment protection function which, if ESET are to be believed, provides an additional layer of security to any apps or processes which can extract money from you. I'm hoping that this might be a glitch that ESET and HSBC will sort out, but I will not hold my breath.

[shri]

You must live a lot more dangerously than me if you are worried about all of those possibilities.

If you are that worried, use a banking phone and leave it at home .. don't trust some random security software to intercept and approve or protect your transactions

(Posted half jokingly.. will probably come back and bite me in the arse ..)