‘Start-ups unaware of high security risks’

“While India is rapidly embracing a cashless consumer economy, payment technologies are growing in adoption faster than awareness of the risks involved,” said Vishak Raman, Senior Regional Director for India and SAARC, FireEye. 

“Many of these are running as startups without sufficient attention to security. The rapid shift to digital transactions will greatly increase our collective exposure to cyber security threats - essentially fraud and theft,” Raman added. In a first, the CBI registered a complaint against 15 people for allegedly claiming fraudulent refunds worth Rs 6.15 lakh from Paytm. 

A Paytm spokesperson, however, said the platform has robust risk management practices but the case has brought the risks to the fore. Raman says in the absence of data breach notification laws and the mandate to publicly disclose attacks, Indian enterprises often do not know how vulnerable they are.“This creates a false sense of security among CISOs/CIOs that their traditional defences are working fine and that they are immune from advanced attacks organisations elsewhere are facing,” Raman noted. 

Paytm registered over seven million transactions worth Rs 1.2 billion in a day after the November 8 demonetisation drive. MobiKwik, which launched MobiKwik ‘Lite’ late last month, registered over two million downloads within the first two days of the ‘Lite’ offer. 

Meanwhile, PayU has also seen a hike in average daily transactions from Rs 1.2 mn to Rs 2.5 mn post-demonetisation. This is how hackers can attack your money in e wallets: Create multiple fake accounts to collect money in small amounts; cheat people who are digital novices by psychological manipulation; and breach servers and steal data. 

Even though most Indian organisations lack effective defences against ransomware, as threats become more pervasive and frequent in India, organisations are slowly becoming aware about the need for advanced protection. “However, it takes a combination of technology, intelligence and expertise to effectively prevent, detect and respond to attacks,” Raman said.