Indian Payment Systems At High Risk Of Cyber Crime: PwC Survey
Instances of cyber crime have increased from an average of 2,895 incidents a year to 6,284 incidents in 2015–16, said a PwC-CII survey.
At a time when the Indian government is pushing citizens and corporations to move towards digital payments, the faith in the safety of these systems appears to be low.
A survey, released by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Thursday, showed that most respondents feel that payment systems are most at risk of security breaches.
96 percent of the respondents felt that instances of cyber crime are most likely in the payments space, compared to 86 percent globally. Some other products where respondents felt that there could be a high rate of cyber crime are fund transfers and student loans, according to the report. India may also see cyber crime emanating from products like personal loans, traditional savings accounts and deposits, insurance and wealth management.
According to PwC’s survey, Indian organisations have detected a sharp increase in instances of crime from an average of 2,895 incidents a year to 6,284 incidents in 2015–16, the report noted.
Instances of cyber crime aren’t just limited to banks. Even though financial technology (Fintech) companies are a very small part of the payment system, PwC sees risk arising from the segment as well.
“...the exponential growth and integration of Fintech companies into the existing financial network, along with the lack of well-established regulations, will have the power to destabilize the current markets and significantly increase the systemic risks,” the report noted.
PwC believes that the rapid growth and high competition in the Fintech space may also result in innovation without adequate controls, which could eventually lead to frauds, invite regulatory action or even lead to the downfall of a company.