APAC Banks Say 2016 Brings “Monkey Business” - Data Breaches

In two weeks, the Chinese New Year brings us the Year of the Monkey. Why is this important? Well, according to Chinese Five Elements Horoscopes, Monkey contains metal and water. Metal is connected to gold. Water is connected to wisdom and danger. Therefore, we will deal with more risky financial events in 2016.

As if to prove this point, at last month’s FICO Fraud Forum, every single attendee said they thought harm would come in the form of data breaches in other industries this year.

38 percent of respondents from 18 leading APAC banks ranked large retailers as being at the greatest risk for a data breach, with another 35 percent of respondents choosing telecommunications companies.

Just like the monkey, criminals are smart, naughty, wily and vigilant animals. So, banks in the region are keenly aware of the threat posed by the increasingly connected business landscape. FSI card portfolios are more vulnerable when customer data is collected by so many entities.

The rapid growth of mobile-first consumers in APAC is also seen as a key factor as the volume of mobile threats increases. 72 percent of survey respondents predicted a significant rise in threats from mobile commerce and mobile-first consumers in 2016, with another 22 percent expecting a modest increase.

“Rapid internet and mobile penetration have seen many industries grow their online capabilities to include payments, online applications and account management services, yet many organizations only have basic security in place,” said Raed Taji, Head of Global Fraud Consulting for FICO in Asia Pacific. “These businesses are soft targets compared to the banks because they lack the resources or historical security focus needed to protect critical systems and customer data.”