A digital, mobile-first world has implications for service providers, too. Irfan Abubaid, VP of messaging and digital services, HGC Global Communications, explains.
Gone are the days when our lives were dependent on bricks and mortar. More and more of our exchanges and transactions are being digitalised. However, as people and businesses become tech-first, new challenges are being encountered.
Most services need a password, and that password should ideally be unique to a given site/platform. Still, for individual users such as myself, it is difficult to remember unique passwords for every site or service I sign up to. This creates a security challenge, which is exploited by fraudsters.
For every hack and subsequent data theft of personal data, end users’ credentials are being sold on the dark web to allow other criminals to use this data to gain access to other services that a given user may have.
This has serious implications for the individuals affected, and for the businesses that serve them. Loss of revenue, reputation, customer trust or loyalty – as well as fines for breaches – are just some of the negative consequences for businesses. Taking online payments, for instance, merchant losses as a result of online payment fraud are estimated to exceed US$206 billion cumulatively for the period between 2021 and 2025, according to Juniper Research.
The value grows to staggering amounts as more verticals are added. In this digital world, it does not matter if a business is in finance, gaming, commerce or e-health; every organisation needs to defend itself by identifying vulnerable loopholes. It is increasingly important for businesses to implement advanced ways to tackle new and complex attacks such as impersonation scams, scary intrusions, phishing, malware distribution, or identity fraud, which lead to data leakage.
