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Updated December 30th, 2019 at 15:10 IST

Fintech, mobile banking and e-commerce to be financial threats in 2020: Study

Security researchers at Kaspersky warn that in the year 2020, financially motivated cyber threat actors may target investment apps, online financial data, etc.

Reported by: Tech Desk
Financial threats
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The risks involved with financial cyberattacks are expected to grow even bigger in the year 2020. Security researchers at Kaspersky warn that in the year 2020, financially motivated cyber threat actors may target investment apps, online financial data processing systems and upcoming cryptocurrencies, in addition to providing paid access to banks’ crucial digital infrastructures. These attacks might also lead to developing new strains of mobile banking malware based on leaked source code.

Given that the impact financial attacks bring usually results in direct financial losses for victims, financial cyber threats are considered to be some of the most dangerous ones. According to the study, the year 2019 has seen some significant developments in the industry and also in how financial attackers operate. Based on the prior findings, researchers have suggested several important potential developments for the financial threat landscape for 2020.

READ | Cybersecurity: Hospital pays ransomware attackers to save the lives of patients

Study findings

-- Some of the key, potential cyberthreats predicted for the financial threat landscape for 2020, are as follows: Fintech, new mobile banking Trojans, paid access to banking infrastructure and ransomware attacks against banks.

-- Mobile investment apps will continue to become more popular among users worldwide. The popularity combined with security lapses may give cybercriminals a potential way to target users.

 -- Researchers suggest that the source code of some popular mobile banking Trojans was leaked into the public domain. It could result in an increased number of new variations of these Trojans in 2020.

-- Researchers expect an increase in the activity of groups specialised in the criminal-to criminal sale of network access to banks in the African and Asian regions, as well as in Eastern Europe.

READ | 3.13 lakh cybersecurity incidents reported in India till October this year

“This year has been one of many important developments. Just as we predicted at the end of 2018, it has seen the emergence of new cybercriminal groups, like CopyPaste, a new geography of attacks by Silence group, cybercriminals shifting their focus onto data that helps to bypass antifraud systems in their attacks. Behavioral and biometrics data is on sale on the underground market," said Yuriy Namestnikov, a security researcher at Kaspersky.

"Additionally, we expected JS-skimmer base attacks to increase and they did. With 2020 on the horizon, we recommend security teams in potentially affected areas of the finance industry to gear up for new challenges. There is nothing inevitable in potential upcoming threats, it is just important to be properly prepared for them," Namestnikov added.

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Published December 30th, 2019 at 15:10 IST

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