THE surge to Malaysia’s accelerated digital economy development and Malaysian’s increased digital presence during the pandemic has caused cashless payment methods to reach an inflection point in the country.
This is adding to the fact that the Malaysian Government have also been playing a key role in encouraging consumers to adopt e-wallets through various initiatives since the beginning of the movement control order (MCO) last year.
From this trend, a Mastercard Impact Study 2020 revealed that Malaysia is a frontrunner for the Southeast Asian region’s mobile and digital wallet adoption. Its mobile wallet usage has gone up 40% ahead of other neighbouring countries like the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.
While most of the major e-wallet providers in Malaysia ensure that the transactions are safe on their apps, with the checks like two-factor authentication for ensuring secure transactions for consumers, activities of malicious actors online remain high.
“Cybercriminals have several tactics on their sleeves. For example, tricking consumers into downloading fake, legitimate-looking e-wallet apps, which actually are malware aiming to infect smartphones used for digital payments,” explained Kaspersky managing director for Asia Pacific Chris Connell.
“They are constantly coming up with innovative tactics to compromise e-wallet platforms. And with the ongoing pandemic plus the festive season, we see more social engineering tricks like phishing and scams to trick the human mind,” he added.
Data from Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) shows 103,573 mobile malware attempts were detected in Malaysia last 2020.
A Kaspersky Mobile Malware Evolution 2020 report also noted that cybercriminals constantly monitor the situation in the world, collecting the most interesting topics for potential victims and then use these for infection or cheating consumer out of their money.
In fact, the year 2020 gave cybercriminals a large number of powerful news topics, with COVID-19 as the biggest one.
“Consumer awareness is one of the most critical components of mitigating cyber risks. at Kaspersky, we have been working with small and medium business (SMB) organisations and universities in Malaysia to spread tips on how to improve one’s online habits against fraudulent schemes,” adds Connell.
In efforts to help Malaysians harness the rising cashless technology trend securely this coming Raya festive season, Kaspersky remind consumers of the following tips:
- Be sure that your smartphone has the updated OS
- Consider having a solid cybersecurity app to be installed on your smartphone, such as Kaspersky Internet Security for Android
- Verify the site or app that you will be using – check if they are legitimate and with strong encryption § Always use a strong and unique password
- Implement two-factor authentication
- Download e-wallet or payment apps from official stores
- Be sure to be extra vigilant each time you make an online transaction – April 17, 2021
