Mobile Banking Security - Jul 5

Mobile Banking: Emerging Threats, Vulnerabilities and Counter-Measures
"The banking industry has never seen such a fundamental change as mobile banking. Globally, millions of consumers are already using a wide array of mobile devices to conduct banking - and millions more are expected to go mobile in the coming months. But with that growth come a whole new set of threats: mobile malware, third-party apps, unsecured Wi-Fi networks, risky consumer behavior. And it does not matter whether an institution uses a proprietary or third-party mobile banking application - the bank owns the risks."

The Vulnerable Mobile App
"In the first quarter of this year, McAfee Labs found 8,000 samples of mobile malware. The same time last year, this number was in the hundreds. 'A burglar cannot rob 300 homes in one night, but a cybercriminal can attack 300 mobile devices at a time,' pointed out Dr. Markus Jakobsson, principal scientist, consumer security at PayPal, at the Mobile Banking and Commerce Summit in San Francisco last month. Not only are hackers more active and aggressive than ever, but consumers tend to be naive and trusting about applications on their mobile devices. 'Consumers are oblivious to the threat of malware on smartphones,' he says."

Enterprises Need to Review their Mobile Security Policies as Mobile Banking and Payments Increase in Popularity, says IDC Financial Insights
"The popularity and massive growth of smartphones for business use is forcing enterprises to sit up and rethink their security and defense mechanisms. In the report "Enterprise Mobile Device Security: Development Guidance to Tackle the Mobile Security Minefield" (Doc # FIN235403, June 2012), IDC Financial Insights examined the need for enterprise mobile security, especially within the mobile banking and payment arena, and discussed core measures for enterprises to boost mobile security, including mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM)."

The Double Edged Sword of Mobile Banking
"The increased customer demand for mobile banking services carries increased fraud threats. FIs must wield this combination carefully to avoid fraud losses if they move too quickly or customer churn if they move too slowly. This white paper highlights:
* Current trends in mobile banking;
* Fraud threats and consumer behavior that result in increased risk;
* Strategies for preventing mobile banking fraud;
* Anomaly detection for mobile banking."