now loading...
Wealth Asia Connect Middle East Treasury & Capital Markets Europe ESG Forum TechTalk
Increasing use of mobile banking puts spotlight on cybersecurity
There is no doubt that smartphone usage is dramatically increasing globally. Since the launch of the IPhone in 2007, smartphones have slowly become a larger part of our lives influencing the news we receive and the music we listen to. Now, smartphones are changing the way will handle our money via the use of mobile banking. This is especially true in more developed markets in Asia.
Darryl Yu 18 Sep 2015

There is no doubt that smartphone usage is dramatically increasing globally. Since the launch of the IPhone in 2007, smartphones have slowly become a larger part of our lives influencing the news we receive and the music we listen to. Now, smartphones are changing the way will handle our money via the use of mobile banking. This is especially true in more developed markets in Asia.

 

According to the Mobile Market Association, around 58% of Singaporeans use mobile banking at least once. Information from mobile payments security company Gemalto reveals that 62% of surveyed participants use mobile banking apps.

 

The survey, which polled 1,184 people between the ages of 16-24 from various countries (USA, UK, Mexico, Brazil and Singapore) also showed that 27% of them never visit their branch in person anymore, promising news as many banks are looking to downsize their branch operations. In terms of activities conducted on banking apps, Gemalto’s information shows that most young people pay bills (40%) using their phone, second was making domestic transfers (25.6%).   

 
While mobile banking is clearly becoming more prevalent in the industry, it also reveals a growing problem banks have in ensuring they have the right security measures in place to counter potential attacks on their systems. 
 
According to information from Akamai, a cybersecurity consultant for banks around 62% of hacking attacks are aimed collectively at companies in the finance and retail industry. Online retailers in particular due to their close proximately with bank systems.
 
More often than not, cyber extortionists groups such as “DD4BC” have turned their attention to banks and have ramped up their DDoS (distributed denial of service) which disables online banking capabilities. Akamai information shows that there has been a 132.43% increase in DDoS attacks in Q2 2015 compared to the same period last year.
 
“The internet security vulnerability has been actively been exploited by various groups out there, says John Ellis, chief strategist – cyber security, Asia Pacific and Japan at Akamai. “This year alone we will be spending around US$77 billion on cyber security and by 2020 that number will be between US$175-180 billion.”       
 
More than two thirds (67%) of participants on Gemalto’s survey stated that they are concerned about the risks they face when using a mobile device to access banking service. In an effort to increase security on their platforms banks have been looking at various different ways to increase security around digital banking processes ranging from additional security layers to implementing biometric signatures both being used to accurately identify the end-user.
 
“A lot of banks are looking into the security but they are not really there yet,” explains Håkan Nordfjell, senior vice president, eBanking & eCommerce at Gemalto. “If the customers don’t feel secure, they will end up going to the branch and banks can’t phase out these low value services”    

 

Conversation
Alexander Chan
Alexander Chan
head of ESG client strategies, Asia Pacific
Invesco
- JOINED THE EVENT -
Webinar
Sustainable investing - the new market standard
View Highlights
Conversation
Federico Cristina
Federico Cristina
co-founder
Memento Blockchain
- JOINED THE EVENT -
In-person roundtable
What next for digital assets
View Highlights