KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): There is a positive correlation between the adoption of digital payment methods and the awareness of the risks and threats that are associated with them in Southeast Asia (SEA), said Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider Kaspersky.

In a research titled “Mapping a secure path for the future of digital payments in APAC” released on Tuesday (April 5), the firm said the study discovered that nearly all respondents in SEA (97%) were aware of at least one type of threat against e-payment platforms, while almost three in four (72%) have personally encountered at least one type of threat associated with this technology.

Kaspersky said that in many ways, this awareness could be attributed to the volume of media coverage about cybersecurity incidents, especially last year, and the combined efforts of governments and private sectors in boosting security awareness amidst the rise of mobile banking and e-wallet adoption in the region.

It added that more than a quarter of the respondents encountered social engineering scams via texts or calls (37%), fake websites (27%), fake offers and deals (27%), and a quarter reported receiving phishing scams (25%).

The firm said social engineering scams are the top encountered threat for most SEA countries, including Indonesia (40%), Malaysia (45%), the Philippines (42%), Singapore (32%), and Vietnam (38%).

The only exception is Thailand, where its top encountered risk is fake websites (31%).

Kaspersky Asia Pacific managing director Sandra Lee said as with any emerging technologies, there is no inherent good or bad characteristic to them; rather, how they are used to achieve beneficial outcomes is determined by how people interact with them.

“If we are to fully realise the benefits of digital payments, it is important that all stakeholders, including the government, digital payment providers, users, and even cybersecurity firms, work together to build a stable, secure, and future-proof payments ecosystem,” she said.

Lee said when it came to action taken after encountering threats, almost two in three of respondents (64%) changed passwords and other security settings on their banking and mobile wallet apps, half of them (50%) called bank or related mobile wallet company, while 45% informed their family members and friends about the incident.

She said cybersecurity protection calls more attention to consumers once they come across the threats.

“A tad more than a quarter of respondents (26%) said they installed security solutions on infected devices, while the same percentage (26%) said they did so whether or not their devices were infected,” she said.