According to the Kaspersky Digital Payment survey, 35% of respondents from South Africa faced phishing scams when using online banking or mobile wallet services. Forty three percent have personally encountered fake websites, and 59% experienced scams (via texts or calls) using social engineering.
When asked about awareness of threats against digital payment methods, the majority of respondents from South Africa report that they are aware of both financial phishing attacks (94%) and online scams (95%) – 78% also stated that they are informed about banking malware on PCs and on mobile. This type of malicious software steals money from users’ bank accounts.
However, 98% think that banks and payment companies should educate users more about the threats online. When it comes to a list of security features that consumers would like to see more on existing banking apps and mobile wallets, according to the survey results, here’s what matters most to them:
• The implementation of one-time-passwords (OTPs) via SMS for every transaction (76%)
• Biometric security features like facial or fingerprint recognition (75%)
• Automated detection and intervention for fraudulent transactions (58%)
• Requiring two-factor authentication (51%)
• Point-to-point encryption (22%)
“Whether we talk about the proliferation of phishing scams or mobile malware, it is important to establish some basic cybersecurity standards. Advanced security solutions, which are able to filter out most of the generic attack vectors, supplemented with other preventive measures such as good cybersecurity awareness and regular password changes, can help to keep your financial transactions secure,” says James Gumede, SADC Territory account manager at Kaspersky.