Banking Apps At Risk of Cyber Crime

Mobile banking apps for Android have been a leading areas for threats. Banking users can download the data from application stores such as at Google Play not knowing the stores may be the actual malware. Cybercriminals are attracted to the stores due to its increased popularity among Android users and smartphone consumers.

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“Banking apps on Android are most vulnerable to cyber crime”, the chief executive and co-founder of Russian anti-virus software maker Kaspersky Lab Eugene Kaspersky said to Reuters last month. “99 percent of mobile attacks are towards Android-based phones, since Apple has strict controls and does not allow third-party applications.” He also stated the most disturbing trend in cyber attacks was a growing shift to mobile devices from computers and a major cyber attack using mobile phones was bound to happen since cellular users are not properly protected.

The Android OS including its smartphones and tablets are primary targets for cyber attacks. Online threats are not only for PCs. The security risks have spread to the worldwide growth of mobile devices and apps. App stores are also a key threat to be affected. Android Market’s is not as restricted for developers to register. Malicious apps can become infected by cybercriminals registering as developers.

"Every second 12 people in the world become victims of cyber criminals and this figure is growing every year, studies estimate,” Aleksey Moshkov, the head of the cybercrimes Bureau of Special Technical Measures, said at an IT and information security forum in Moscow on Thursday.

Cyber activity threats alone in the U.S. account for billions of dollars lost in the global economy. According to a McAfee CSIS publication, “Cyber crimes against banks and other financial institutions probably cost many hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Cyber theft of intellectual property and business-confidential information probably costs developed economies billions of dollars—how many billions is an open question. These losses could just be the cost of doing business or they could be a major new risk for companies and nations as these illicit acquisitions damage global economic competitiveness and undermine technological advantage.”

This initial research suggested an upper limit of the cost of cyber espionage and crime somewhere between 0.5% and 1% of national income—for the US, this would be about $70 billion to $140 billion. A lower limit might be $20 billion to $25 billion. While a precise single figure for the cost of cyber crime and cyber espionage is unattainable, a more accurate estimate of the range of potential losses can be developed, allowing us to better measure the problem.