Interpol and the United States’ FBI have been fighting against the rising problem of cyber crime and the criminals behind it. West Africa seems to be a hot spot for these criminals according to Interpol and the FBI.
Criminals in West Africa have been operating their illegal activities in a very organized fashion. They have even went as far as to school each other on the methods and behaviors of various law enforcement who would otherwise halt their illicit activities.
Now these criminals have been targeting mobile banking apps in order to steal funds and personal information of account owners. These cyber criminals are able to target these banking apps using various methods.
They have been infecting devices with viruses designed to send back information needed to access the app. They’ve also been able to hack into the coding of these apps and sometimes find vulnerabilities that allow them access.
It is a widespread problem that requires a lot of man power but experts warn that it can’t be entirely left up to law enforcement to solve. Banks need to make cyber security of their mobile banking apps a top priority in order to protect their customers as well as the bank itself. Users of these banking apps can also aid in the fight against these kinds of crimes.
If you are a user of any kind of mobile banking app, you would do well to brush up on your cyber security skills in order to protect your account, identity and especially your money.
Simple actions such as using complicated passwords and changing them frequently will do a world of good in protecting yourself from cyber crime. Also, make sure to never download or use any suspicious software and always keep sensitive personal information to yourself (or learn to later regret it).