Fooled into entering his password for his private Gmail account was John Podesta, the former chairman of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, in March 2016. And locking down files of major corporations and demanding they pay a ransom to unlock them, ransomware cyber attacks ravaged the globe last week.

This is because cybersecurity places the onus on consumers to protect themselves – and that’s a problem, according to the CEO of an anti-fraud financial technology (fintech) company.

The recent cyberattacks rely on individual consumers to operate, said Rodger Desai, the chief executive officer of New York startup Payfone. “Security today involves the consumer to secure themselves, and that’s the problem,” he said in an interview tot the television channel on Friday. “Whenever consumers are involved – and they’re always involved – people can socially engineer the consumer.”

In order to remove the need for using passcodes or security questions, the fintech firm Payfone uses automated customer identity authentication technology and Desai heads that fintech firm.

“There are so many ways in which cyberattacks are getting more sophisticated,” he added. “What we realized when we started the company is that these kind of attacks would grow. For example, if I wanted to reset my password with the bank and I’d forgotten it, they’re going to send my phone a code. That could be someone else.”

Apple was forced to issue a critical software update to protect its users after the malicious software “Pegasus” hacked into the phone of a human rights activist in the United Arab Emirates last year.

In order to enable users to speak with customer-service representatives without having to enter passcodes or answer security questions, SIM cards of users are verified automatically by the startup’s technology.

Including attempts of unauthorized users trying to access a mobile app or service, the company’s technology could detect a number of inconsistencies, said Payfone’s boss. While preventing hackers and insurance fraudsters from accessing users’ phones, this will speed up the verification process for legitimate clients and businesses, the company believes.

Desai continued: “I think the key thing is removing the consumer from the security process. Cyberattacks will only escalate because the funding of them has gone from small-time criminals to organized gangs to state sponsorship and until we remove the consumer, they will never end.”

“Petya is a different kind of malware from WannaCry,” said Jonathan Care, fraud expert and research director at Gartner, in a blog post last week. “Common delivery methods are via phishing emails, or scams, however it seems increasingly likely that Petya uses an infected application update from a breached software vendor as its initial infection vector.”

Mobile payments network company Zelle, which is backed by several bog banks including Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, announced that Desai’s company their choice as the authentication provider for the peer-to-peer mobile payments. This announcement was made in early June.

The Mobile World Congress, Shanghai, a conference which showcases new mobile technologies and products, was the place where Payfone globally debuted its authentication technology.

(Adapted from CNBC)

Categories: Creativity, Economy & Finance, Strategy, Uncategorized