Security and Privacy Challenges and Opportunities in FinTech

FinTech, an amalgamation of "financial" and "technology," traces its origins to ancient and medieval times. The evolution of financial practices began with the barter system and progressed through record-keeping, coinage, promissory notes, Islamic finance, and medieval European banking. Alongside the development of these financial practices, fraudulent financial activities also emerged. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of financial trade practices from ancient and medieval periods to the 21st century, highlighting the associated security challenges and opportunities. It includes the following FinTech security topics: (a) background information (including a history of financial trade and an introduction to FinTech), (b) various types of security threats, (c) safety and security challenges and opportunities, and (d) methods of security breach instance mitigation. In addition, several case studies of FinTech security are given to help readers better understand the subjects. After reading this article, readers gain solid knowledge related to FinTech security and find plenty of FinTech research and pragmatic opportunities.