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How Digitally Storing Personal & Financial Information Raises Risk of Data Breach

by CISOCONNECT Bureau

Recently, research analysts noted that people who store their sensitive financial information in digital form increases the risk of data breach.

According to financial experts, one of the most typical ways for hackers to perpetrate cybercrime is to phish an individual’s email account or mobile text messages in order to gain access to their personal financial information, such as ATM pins or OTPs.

As per the report, the way people in India store their confidential financial information puts them at risk of data theft. The Per Unisys Security Index 2020 report measures the consumers’ concern around personal financial security.

Top Risks of Financial Data Breach
ATM fraud, unauthorised use of debit or credit cards, and mobile phones numbers obtained under fraudulent names have all increased dramatically in recent years. Similarly, large-scale data breaches involving hundreds of millions of personal details have increased.

The top most concerns, according to the report, were bank frauds involving unauthorised access to people’s credit and debit card information, as well as those involving online banking and shopping.

According to financial experts, one of the most typical ways for hackers to perpetrate cybercrime is to phish an individual’s email account or mobile text messages in order to gain access to their personal financial information, such as ATM pins or OTPs.

People, on the other hand, continue to store sensitive personal financial information such as banking passwords and ATM debit and credit card information on their smartphone, email, or computer.

Hackers have tried every means to identify the loose end and infiltrate any underlying securities, according to the report, with the aim of syphoning off funds by gaining access to the sensitive financial data of people.

Survey Report Findings
A survey was done by LocalCircles to learn how Indians store and share their ATM, debit or credit card, Aadhaar, and PAN card information.

It looked at responses from over 24,000 people in 393 districts around India and came up with the following findings:

As per the survey report, about 29% of respondents reported that they share ATM or debit card pin numbers with their close family members.

The report observed that 4% have revealed the crucial financial details to one or more office employees, and 2% have revealed it to one or more close friends. The report also revealed that 33 percent of people keep financial credentials on their phone, computer, or e-mail. While 7% of people store financial data on their phone, 15% keep it in their email or computer.

It was noted that 11 percent of citizens save their ATM, bank account, email, and other online account passwords in their mobile phone’s contact list. However, the majority of 65% people disclosed that no other than themselves had access to their ATM or debit/credit card information.

The survey noted that while creating a strong password is simple, keeping track of them all across different bank accounts, websites, and apps that require their own unique log-in criteria is a huge challenge for banking customers.

A Brief Conclusion
New Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules require debit and credit cardholders to set transaction limits in order to make digital payments with debit and credit cards more secure.

RBI has also urged banks to allow individuals to register for preferences such as opting in or out of services, as well as spending limitations and other services for online, international, and contactless transactions.

The report concludes that storing financial credentials in digital form is extremely risky because most internet apps require permission to view one’s contact and text messages.

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