Business users are increasingly making financial transactions with the help of mobile devices. According to a joint survey conducted by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International, more than 30% of companies use mobile devices to access corporate bank accounts and conduct financial transactions.
In particular, 28% of small and medium companies and 34% of enterprises conducted financial transactions via mobile devices. In addition, financial departments (63%), managers (54%) and even employees (8%) freely make corporate financial transactions via mobile apps.
This speaks to convenience and productivity, but the growing use of mobile devices for corporate banking also could put company funds at risk, as mobile cyber-threats have become more widespread.
"The trend shows a continual increase in mobile banking usage by corporate banking clients,” said Ross Hogan, global head of the fraud prevention division at Kaspersky Lab. “This trend is certain to continue as corporate and consumer banking clients alike migrate to the convenience of mobile banking. This creates an operational imperative for banks to very carefully consider the security and fraud prevention approaches they need to take in order to adequately ensure secure mobile banking applications, protect confidential customer data, and guard high-value corporate customer transactions.”
Hackers are increasingly targeting mobile platforms. In the third quarter of 2015, Kaspersky Lab products for mobile devices detected more than 300,000 new malicious programs. Of these threats, the highest growth rates were demonstrated by a Trojan-Banker designed to steal credentials to Internet banking and e-payment systems, as well as credit or debit card data. The share of this type of malware increased from 0.6% (630 programs) in the second quarter to 1.5% (2,500 programs) in the third quarter.
“All users of mobile banking services, corporate and consumer, must also be vigilant about their own security and behavior while also questioning their bank about the measures taken to ensure their safety,” said Hogan.
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