F-Secure: India is a key target in wallets, POS and banking by cyber criminals in 2017

F-Secure revealed that post demonization, India is expected to be a key target in point-of-sales (POS) and banking malware, especially mobile wallets in 2017. The latest report titled `Threat Landscape India 2016 & Beyond’ further highlighted that Android-based smartphones are facing the maximum number of cyber-attacks, post the demonetization drive. The rise in the number of smartphone-based cyber-attacks burgeoned post the Government initiative announced in November last year.

The last quarter of 2016 witnessed increased usage of online/ digital payment platforms, including plastic money and mobile wallets, owing to the liquidity crunch. This has led to the rise in point-of-sales (POS) malware and banking malware.

The report also pointed out the fact that users in India are more active on mobile devices. It is the preferred medium for connecting to the Internet, instead of browsing on personal computers. Post demonetization, people have increased the use of mobile wallets including Telco Backed wallets, Independent wallets, and Bank backed wallets, etc. People are even keeping multiple wallet apps on their phones as different wallets are accepted by various sellers and stores. Such growing use of mobile web and mobile wallet based transactions has contributed to increasing incidences of new types of threats. The major threats that are facing Indian smartphone users are Airpush, Dowgin, FakeApp, SMSpay and SMSreg.