Cyberthreats in Mobile Banking

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Cyberthreat in Mobile Banking: Scope in India

Out of five thousand households surveyed across 25 States in India, about two-third respondents had a smartphone.
More than half of the respondents sent and received money digitally, and about 31% had a mobile app for banking.
Nearly 14% of respondents used their mobile phones for banking-related purposes.

Cyber experts say that two prominent malware campaigns operate in the region and target smartphone users in several countries.
Malwares can steal money from mobile users’ bank accounts by disguising the malicious application as a legitimate app.
Prevalent malwares in the region:
- Anubis Trojan malware: Anubis has been targeting Android users since 2017, and its victims hail from countries such as Russia, Turkey, India, China, Colombia, France, Germany, the U.S., Denmark, and Vietnam.
- Working: Perpetrators infect the phones through legitimate-looking and high-ranking malicious apps on Google Play, smishing, and BianLian malware.
Cyberthreat in Mobile Banking: Malwares
- Malware is a variety of software or file designed to damage and destroy computers and computer systems.
- Examples of common malware includes viruses, worms, Trojan viruses, spyware, adware, and ransomware

Roaming Mantis: It is another prolific malware that targets mobile banking The group attacks Android devices and spreads the code by hijacking domain name systems (DNS) through smishing.
- Between the start of 2021 to the first half of 2022, the malware has infected million devices in the APAC region.
- Working: The group targets users by sending smishing texts with a short description and a URL landing page that increased the Cyberthreat in Mobile Banking.
- If a user clicks on the link and opens the page, they are redirected to a phishing After users inputs information, attackers collect information of the user.

Interoperability: Mobile payment platforms like Google Pay, PaytM, PhonePe, Square, PayPal, and Alipay operate in a closed-loop payment world where a Google Pay user can send money to another bank account via only the search giant’s payment platform due to which Cyberthreat in Mobile Banking increased.
But governments regulators prefer open, standardised platforms that lower barriers to entry. The push from regulators to make payment platforms interoperable can expose the payments to cyber threats.
Lack of technical experts: There is a lack of technology, engineering, data and security experts needed by banks to grow and sustain the payment
Dearth of talent in banking can lead to a further rise Cyberthreat in Mobile Banking.
Innovative techniques: Cyber criminals are employing unique and innovative techniques to target users. Identifying and warning consumers from potential challenges is a problem.