Screen scraping is a method of collecting display information from a screen so that you can use it to perform actions that the user can typically carry out. The use of screen scraping is a controversial topic to talk about. Sharing security credentials for banking use to enable screen scraping has implications for user security, but discounts disrupt the user experience.

At first, it was the only option for automatically collecting specific types of customer information. Other options have grown in popularity. Screen scraping was a common practice then, especially in the banking industry. However, the use of application programming interfaces has been replaced. Let us see how it works…

How does Screen Scraping Work?

Screen scraping will give us a bot or program that will automatically gain access to a customer’s account and then collect the data on the screen in the background without the customer being present.

Let us break down the steps of it:

  1. When the customer will share their login details with the third party provider.
  2. The third party provider will use their details to log into the customers’ bank account.
  3. Then, they copy or scrape the customer’s bank information for use outside the customer banking portal.
  4. Any company or business that carries out this screen scraping process has the customer’s permission.

Reasons to Use it

  • This process has several uses. It helps collect sensitive data where the user shares the login or account information for any business to be carried out.
  • One of the most popular uses of this process is financial services. The customer information is used to log into the customer’s bank account and collect their bank information for use outside their app.
  • A lot of information sharing through this process is about building a more detailed picture of your financial footprint. A business will gather this information to store and use it later when needed.
  • Many legal processes are carried out by companies on the constant of their customers. You never know when cyber criminals can also steal their data For illegal activities.