Stephan Neumeier, managing director at Kaspersky Lab Asia-Pacific
The growing adoption of digital payment technology in the Philippines and the risks overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) face in countries where digital payment is more advanced are driving the need to raise awareness about the risks of a cashless society.
According to Stephan Neumeier, managing director at Kaspersky Lab Asia-Pacific, while cashless transformation may be advanced in some countries like Singapore and India, the adoption of cashless payments in nations like the Philippines has only just started.
“In the Philippines, the adoption of digital payments is quite low. It’s not so advanced but the rise in evils is coming up now. With this, obviously people, particularly the OFWs, need to be better educated on what risk it might bring,” said Neumeier.
Neumeier noted that the Philippines has an estimated 2.2 million overseas workers who work somewhere, and usually in countries where the adoption of electronic payments is more advanced. In 2017, these OFWs sent back to the Philippines remittances totaling $28.1-billion which form part of the country’s gross national product.
“As these cash transactions play a crucial role not only for the Filipino families but also to the country’s economy, it is high time to promote cybersecurity awareness among Filipinos working abroad as well as their families,” Neumeier said.
Neumeier also said that as all transactions between people are happening more and more cashless today where you can transact or transfer money not just by account anymore but from one cell phone to another cell phone, you also need to be aware of whom you are doing the transactions. Customers also must understand or have knowledge of the technologies out there like e-wallet and QR app-based payments and check if these are secured.
Kaspersky Lab observed the rise in the use of mobile wallets in the Philippines as more start-ups started introducing and offering this service locally, noting the increasing preference of consumers to pay online using this technology. Filipinos, majority of whom are unbanked or without bank deposit accounts, use mobile wallets as alternatives to bank accounts.
However, as digital transformation continues to gain momentum, risks of cyber attacks are also growing. Neumeier notes that the threats within the Philippines might not be that visible today because of the lack of infrastructure, speed, etc. but it’s already there, or it might be in all of its overseas workers who are traveling out and might get infected by cyber threats in other countries because the infrastructure is much embedded.
When it comes to ransomware, the Philippines ranked seventh in the world last year. In 2016, the country ranked eighth, with 34.97% Filipinos with smartphones have been infected by this threat.
“There are over 30-million smartphone users in the Philippines and 14% of them are now using their devices for transacting money online. While mobile wallets give unparalleled convenience, it comes with security risks that can lead to loss of money,” says Neumeier.
Neumeier said it is the role of the government and banks to ensure security for customers who transact digitally.
“If you do an embedded cashless payment using mobile through the bank’s application, the bank has to ensure that security measures are in place. It is also your responsibility, being the person who scanned QR codes, to make sure these codes are secured. Government is also responsible because it should ensure that people are getting educated when it comes to the movement of cashless payment.”
Neumeier reminds people that before they transact digitally or scan QR codes, they must ‘Think before they Click.’ “If they just try to think logically what would happen, what impact this would have to them, most likely they do the right steps. Check the technologies to verify if these QR codes are secured or not, use secured personal device, use a strong and unique password and implement a two-factor authentication.”
