Pandemic leads to boom time for tech fraud fighters
More people using the internet for financial and ecommerce transactions has led to job creation in a niche segment.
Specialists who can help deal with rising technology frauds are in high demand amid the surge in electronic transactions during the pandemic. Demand for tech fraud experts has risen upwards of 35 per cent, reveals employment and human resource services company Teamlease Services.
Financial services and ecommerce firms are among the major drivers of demand. Many companies find it easier to outsource management of the issues to a consulting firm since building internal capabilities is seen to be more expensive, say trend-watchers.
Demand has picked up over the last three quarters in particular, says Naren Bhagi, associate vice-president and business head of information technology infrastructure at Teamlease Digital.
There are upto 25,000 openings in the segment, which include people for fraud detection, prevention, audit, and forensic analysis.
A spokesperson for KPMG in India says hiring of tech fraud experts is up more than 100 per cent amid increased demand for these services. Skills in demand include forensic tech skills, which are used to investigate computer crimes involving smartphones and the Internet of Things, , ransomware, and other cybercrimes.
Arpinder Singh, global markets and India leader, forensic and integrity services at EY, says there is increased demand in the field of cybersecurity and data privacy.
“The demand witnessed in the market has also led to a need to have specialists and domain experts across the board–including technologists and accountants. We fore see this demand to pick up in the future, especially in proactive fraud assessments, compliance and risk monitoring, and cy ber response frameworks ,” says Singh.
“We are seeing increased hiring of domain experts since the nature of fraud is no longer simple, but (has) evolved into complex scenarios that are not easily detectable. Enterprises have begun extensively using advanced data analytics, machine learning technology, and security platforms to either have a tech-fraud prevention or early-detection mechanism,” says Prashant Bhat, managing director cy ber security and privacy, Protiviti Member Firm for India. He adds that regulators have also laid emphasis on payment platform security and other related guidelines. This has lent heft to organisations to kick-start fraud management on priority.
“Many enterprises are embarking on a journey of optimising their digital platforms to be more fraud aware with enhanced security,” says Bhat.
Companies had identified tech-related fraud as among their major challenges, according to a December 2020 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP India Corporate Fraud Perception Survey. Respondents had listed cybercrime as the fraud their organisations are most likely to experience over the next two years. They had also additionally listed fraud due to use of bots, artificial intelligence, and related technologies in the top five.