The Need For Anti-Virus As Mobile Wallet Transactions Hit Record 14,170 Crore

After mobile wallet transactions experienced a setback owing to the mandatory know-your-customer (KYC) requirements in March, mobile wallet companies have bounced back with a record transaction of 14,170 crore in May, the highest recorded transaction after January.

Thus, M-Wallets are back in vogue with companies once again succeeding in convincing their customers to trust this mode of virtual access to their hard earned money. In fact, its not just the Mobile Wallets that is breaking records, even card transactions and mobile banking have reached a record peak.

However, what people fail to realize is the necessity to secure this virtual or mobile access to money with the right anti-virus and M-wallet companies hardly seem to care about this risk.  Quick Heal Security Labs detected a malware known as Android.banker.A2f8a, which is basically an Android Banking Trojan that targets over 232 banking apps. The Trojan is  designed to hijack SMSs, steal login credentials and upload contact list on malicious server, to display an overlay screen on legitimate apps so that the user is completely unaware of the malicious activities going on while they are busy doing transactions.

Given the recorded increase in the number of smartphone users and the fact that digital transactions in India have reached $2 Tn doing, such virus detection is an eye opener and should be considered a serious threat not just for customers but also for banks and mobile wallet companies. One company to have already made an initiative in this regard is Paytm with its new ‘Wallet Insurance Scheme‘ introduced to safeguard Paytm Wallet money. Under this scheme, all Paytm users having balance in their wallets will be automatically insured with no additional cost and automatic refund of lost money to their Paytm wallets.

How To Stay Safe With Quick Heal?

Being the most preferred cyber-security partner and having already detected the Android Banking Trojan and many more malware, the simplest way to safeguard your mobile wallets and online transactions is to install Quick Heal Total Security App that significantly reduces threats to transaction apps like mobile wallets and banking apps. One important addition to this app is SafePe, specifically designed to counter payment threats and mobile banking by:

• Ensuring that your mobile network and phone are safe while making online
• Proactively detecting tampering and infections on your phone by any advanced malware and pushing alert notifications before you can make the online transaction.
• Checking if you are using a secure website (HTTPS) while making online payments.
• Checking if your smartphone is rooted or not since a rooted phone can be easily hacked by attackers for stealing confidential information.
• Ensuring that your phone is free from any banking Trojan, spyware and data-stealing

So, basically SafePe is designed to take all the necessary steps needed to mitigate security threats on your mobile phone while you bank, shop or pay online using your banking apps and mobile wallets.

So, while banks and M-Wallet companies are busy convincing customers to provide required KYC, a more priority need is to convince customers to start installing anti-virus and not trust mobile transactions blindly.

Quick Heal on its part can play a significant role is helping Mobile Wallet companies to save huge overhead costs on reimbursing insurance amount, by safeguarding their system against critical virus attacks.