Ofcom issues warning about premium rate call scam
Ofcom has warned mobile phone users to remain vigilant after a significant rise in the number of people falling victim to a premium rate call scam. In recent weeks, the communications regulator has investigated a spate of cases where consumers have been faced with the daunting prospect of paying grossly inflated phone bills- in some […]
Time to Get Serious on Mobile Fraud
A new study suggests companies are taking the threat of mobile fraud much more seriously. According to recent research, as mobile fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated, companies too are upping their game. The question is: will it be enough and what can your company do right now to protect itself? The research found that the […]
Mobile payments on the rise, but security concerns still an issue
In both the US and in the UK, ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’ shopping season broke spending records. Amazon sold more than 7.4 million items on Black Friday 2015 (86 items per second!), up from 5.5 million in 2014, giving the online retailer its biggest sales day ever in the UK. Black Friday was also the best ever […]
Telco revenue is going OTT, but not in a good way
OTT is fast becoming a massive threat to telcos’ revenue management, the effect of which is clearly evidenced by double digit revenue loss for operators in 2014. What is the OTT threat? Over-the-top (OTT) applications – apps and services that offer a service over the Internet, bypassing traditional distribution – have struggled to monetise their […]
SIM swap fraud – new spin on an old theme
Recently there has been a spate of scams reported in the media using swapping of SIMs to create fraud. A recent example was reported in The Guardian. Whist the media enjoys giving frauds and scams new names, this is essentially little more than a reworking of identity theft. The report identifies that fraudsters need to […]
Mobile Banking fraud – part 3
By Andy Gent Part three of the mobile banking series will look at the more traditional methods of fraud targeting phone users universally and how cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated in their attempts to steal information. This part looks at the more traditional methods of mobile fraud and how these methods are being developed to […]
Mobile Banking fraud – part 2
By Andy Gent In the second part of our series on mobile banking, we look at some of the risks from Trojan and spoof apps. Imitation, Trojan or spoof apps can be a real problem in today’s mobile marketplace, but are relatively easy to spot if you remain vigilant. The name ‘Trojan’ comes from the […]
Banking on mobile banking
By Dilip Mistry Mobile banking is big business. Users are set to exceed 1 billion by 2017, up from 590 million last year, a 15% representation of global subscribers. The end of this month signalled the release of Paym (more on that later), the Banking and Finance industries’ simple transfer tool that removes the need for […]
Not enough has been done to prevent voicemail fraud
by Andy Gent Despite six months of hearings, 184 witnesses, 42 written submissions and one Lord Justice Enquiry, voicemail services are still not as secure as you might expect. You may recall that Lord Justice Leveson’s enquiry into the ‘culture, practices and ethics of the press’ focused heavily on journalists who had gained access to […]
Heartbleed hits home after bug sweep
by Dilip Mistry Finnish Company Codenomicon along with Google researcher Neel Mehta have recently discovered a flaw in OpenSSL, a form of the web-based encryption technology Secure-Socket-Layer (SSL) and Transport-Layer-Security (TLS). The technology is used widely all over the Internet to encrypt sensitive personal data with a high potential for fraudulent use, such as passwords […]