Digital payments have increased banking security concerns in Asia, with Kaspersky detecting a 53% increase in digital payment fraud instances in Singapore alone in 2021.
According to the company’s “Mapping a secure path for the future of digital payments in APAC” survey, nearly all SEA respondents (97%) were aware of at least one sort of danger to e-payment platforms, and nearly three-quarters (72%) had directly encountered at least one type of threat.
Threat actors used access points via SMS or calls (37%), bogus websites (27%), and fraudulent offers and bargains (22%). (27 percent ). A quarter said they got phished (25 percent ).
Malaysia was the most targeted region for these digital payment concerns, with 46% of respondents reporting a social engineering fraud. Philippines (42%), Singapore (32%), and Vietnam (38%). Fake websites (31%) were the most commonly encountered risk in Thailand.
Financial losses appear to be primarily limited at $100-$5,000, with very few respondents reporting losses above $5,000. The majority of respondents (52%) agreed that bank account and credit card fraud was their main source of loss.
While vulnerabilities still exist, the region’s knowledge and awareness of digital payment issues has grown significantly. The survey attributed the surge in awareness to greater media coverage of cybersecurity issues, as well as joint efforts by governments and commercial sectors to raise security awareness as the area adopts mobile banking and e-wallets.
Attitudes are changing. The region’s respondents (67%) stated they became more attentive after a cyber event, and more than a quarter (32%) were worried about recovering lost funds.
“The adoption of digital payment methods looks to be a double-edged sword, with convenience benefits and cybersecurity threats,” says Sandra Lee, Kaspersky MD for APAC.
“We think it’s early to categorize digital payments in such binary terms. The way we interact with evolving technology determines how we use them to produce desirable outcomes.”
Lee also adds that government and private sector collaboration would be required to keep the region’s digital payment market safe.
“All parties must work together to develop a stable, secure, and future-proof payments infrastructure,” she argues.
