It’s become popular among some industry experts to say that digital transformation in banking accelerated as a result of the pandemic. Multiple players in the market, and governmental policies that focus on digitization have led to a surge in investments in the fintech sector from venture capitalists. Fintech startups are revolutionizing the financial services landscape in India.
With technological advances and further digital penetration, cybercriminals and fraudsters are now busier than ever. Digital lending through various online platforms has become one of the many new money-making habits as more and more activities have increased online due to the pandemic and lockdowns, online frauds have also become more frequent. Scamsters and fraudsters are coming up with newer ways to con people.
As per media, scammers are targeting banking customers in India using a novel phishing attack to collect sensitive information such as internet banking credentials, mobile number and OTP to carry out fraudulent transactions, the country's cyber security agency has warned in its latest advisory.
The malicious activity is being carried out using the ngrok platform, a unique web application. Indian cybersecurity nodal agency, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (In-CERT) has pushed out a notification warning internet banking users about phishing attacks.
CERT-In is the federal technology arm to combat cyber attacks and guarding the cyber space against phishing and hacking assaults and similar online attacks
The malicious actors have abused the ngrok platform to host phishing websites impersonating internet banking portals of Indian banks," according to the advisory issued by CERT-In on Tuesday.
Hackers have stolen more than $600 million in Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies by breaching blockchain-based platform Poly Network, the company confirmed through a tweet on Tuesday. Poly Network is a platform which allows users to exchange crypto tokens and has confirmed that thousands of investors have been affected by this latest crypto theft.
Fintech companies deal with sensitive customer data. Multiple cybersecurity threats result in massive monetary losses during online transactions. These are entirely unwarranted for customers. The technology that offers convenience also opens up people’s online accounts to fraudsters looking to steal their assets. This is a constant stream to the popularity of fintechs.
This is a serious challenge and can make or break the reputation of FinTech startups. Criminal hackers are resorting to a broader array of techniques to monetize and exploit information, and the methods used to acquire that information are increasingly stealthy and sophisticated, making it difficult to defend against and detect such attacks.
For example, through advanced techniques allowing for covert surveillance, attackers can monitor and steal data, often sensitive proprietary information or strategies -business, political, or military, over a long period of time without detection.
Enabling safe end-to-end transactions is imperative, not a choice. After all, technology should be all about convenience and nothing about disconcertment.
Data privacy, cybersecurity, and data breach issues are especially important in the fintech space.
For tenderfoots in the market, becoming tractable is an appalling task which needs a lot of effort. Unauthorized use could be a liability and put such companies in legal hot soup. As such, privacy and data policy need to be placed in the best interest of consumers.
Bringing digital data and high-value customers together inside mobile payment apps and then offering a glitch-free experience is a mighty task. Although the future of digital wallets seems very bright, there are a lot of challenges fintech businesses face while introducing any type of E-wallets to the market.
(Amit Kumar is Founder of GalaxyCard, a lending solutions firm)
