Cybersecurity plays a crucial role in the product and service offerings of numerous businesses, given that 81% of hacking-related breaches involve the exploitation of stolen or weak passwords. Consequently, multi-factor authentication (MFA) has emerged as a solution.

More and more people are adopting MFA to ensure their security while also desiring the ability to share data with the everyday services they use. In response to banks increasingly mandating MFA for login, so we have partnered with a market leading Australian aggregator (Basiq) to ensure improved Connection API to accommodate MFA. This enhancement enables you to securely share banking data needed for bank feeds (transaction date, description, amount & interest rate), even when your bank has implemented the additional safeguard of MFA.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an authentication technique that mandates the utilization of at least two distinct factors to verify a user's identity. By amalgamating diverse types of information, it establishes a comprehensive and secure profile of the individual seeking access. Typically, the initial factor consists of a username and password known to the user, while the second and/or third factor encompasses possession of a mobile phone app, biometric fingerprint scanners, or face ID.

MFA allows users to enable multiple authentication methods, representing an advancement over its predecessor, two-factor authentication (2FA), which employed identical authentication factors for all users.

Open Banking is the next iteration in securely sharing your data. As Australia's Open Banking framework gains momentum and an increasing amount of data becomes easily accessible, the reliance on login credentials and multi-factor authentication (MFA) for Open Banking Data Holders will diminish. However, during this transition period, maintaining the capability to connect with a diverse range of financial institutions through a combination of direct data capture (DDC/Screen scraping) and open banking methods is crucial for effectively serving both new and existing customers.

Not all institutions are classified as banks and, consequently, they are not obligated to undergo the transition process. Moreover, some institutions have been relatively sluggish in adopting these changes. At TaxTank, we have already established open banking access to a wide array of over 180 financial institutions, and this number is consistently expanding.

Using labels we categorise banks to provide clarity on the availability of traditional bank feeds (scrapping) and identify those that do not offer bank feeds at all (manual banks). It is important to note that traditional bank feeds may encounter disruptions due to multi-factor authentication (MFA). Therefore, we strongly recommend re-linking your bank through open banking as soon as it becomes accessible for your institution. In the meantime, if you encounter difficulties with MFA prompts while using TaxTank, there may be an option to deactivate MFA for your accounts directly with your bank. However, it is essential to consider this decision carefully, as it will decrease the security level of your bank account.