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TechInAfrica – Kaspersky Lab’s Annual Cyber Security Weekend was held in Cape Town, South Africa a few days ago. During the forum, Kaspersky Lab experts discussed many topics related to cybersecurity, including a new wave of SIM swap fraud that’s currently targeting financial services and online services in Africa.
SIM swap fraud has become very common in Africa. It happens when someone switches your phone number over to a criminal’s SIM card. This requires cooperation between the criminals and carriers. They then divert your incoming SMS and use it to complete the text-based two-factor authentication checks that usually protect your most sensitive accounts, including social networks, financial services, webmail services, and instant apps.
According to a report from the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), this type of fraud was more than doubled last year in South Africa.
Many African countries generally use mobile payment methods because it is more convenient and time-saving. However, Kaspersky Lab research finds that mobile payments and banking systems are suffering from the attack and as a result, money people lose their money.
The criminals use this attack not only to steal credentials and captures OTPs via SMS but also to cause financial damage to their victims by resetting the accounts on financial services. It enables them to access the victims’ financial account including in banks, fintechs, and credit unions. They also use it to get money via WhatsApp by contacting the victim’s contacts and ask for money.
“Despite financial inclusion services prospering, the flip side to this is that it opens up a world of opportunities to cybercriminals and fraudsters who are using the convenience a mobile phone offers to exploit and poke holes in two-factor authentication processes,” Fabio Assolini, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, explained.
He added, “Frauds using SIM swap are becoming common in Africa and the Middle East, affecting countries like South Africa, Turkey, and UAE. Countries like Mozambique have experienced this firsthand.
The implemented solution, by banks and mobile operators in Mozambique, as a result, is something I believe we must learn from and encourage other regions to investigate and apply, among other aspects, to mobile payment methods of the future, as a way to ensure that mobile phones do not become an enemy in our pockets.”
Source: techeconomy.ng
