With growing campaigns for Kenyans to subscribe to mobile banking, one question rises, is mobile banking really safe? Cybercrime is fast becoming a global threat and a resent research by Serianu Limited, Getting Back to Security Basics, revealed that Kenya hasn’t been spared in the cyber crime phenomena. Stephanie AuWerter from CNN Money recently wrote a post about the safety of mobile banking. Below are a couple of highlights from the post worth sharing.
According to Alisdair Faulkner of digital security firm ThreatMetrix, what mobile users fear most in reference to mobile banking is remote hacking. While this could happen, according to Alisdair, it’s unlikely, at least for now.
With multiple mobile phones operating systems, and rapidly changing technology, it’s challenging for fraudsters to create widespread mobile scams, says Mary Monahan, Javelin’s mobile-research director.
According to the post, malware, the software likely needed for such an attack virtually doesn’t exist for Apples’s iOS. The Android platform is though more vulnerable, says Kevin Mahaffey of mobile security firm Lookout. The threat is small still small though. According to virus-protection company McAfee, in the first quarter of 2012, nearly 7,000 types of Android malware threats, not bank specific, were tracked.
Experts though warn that we should expect the malware problem to worsen in the near future as the world transitions into more of a mobile wallet.
Based on the CNN money post, mobile banking is safe, for now that is. The most realistic threat is that your phone might be stolen or lost, and end up in the wrong hands.
Click here to read more of Stephanie AuWerter’s post on the safety of mobile banking