Cybersecurity concerns rise with increase in digital transactions in India

The government convened a workshop to discuss cybersecurity threats and digital transaction frauds earlier in May this year. It is an addition to the series of efforts and measures taken by the government and industry stakeholders to address this menace. From paying for a cup of tea to adding funds to your real cash rummy app, digital transactions are a part of our everyday life. With it comes the looming presence of cyber threats that must be addressed proactively. 

Business enterprises implement and upgrade their security measures to meet these challenges. The government also maintains compliance and regulatory oversight so that public money is not at stake. All of these measures are taken to ensure safety every time you book a flight, play online rummy or make a bank fund transfer.

Cybersecurity concerns in the financial world

Instances of cyberattacks and their volume of impact have been rising every year. Between the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and now, these attacks have more than doubled. A company stands to suffer heavy financial losses, which can affect its liquidity and even solvency. Take the example of the US credit agency Equifax. Back in 2017, the company had to pay penalties of more than a billion dollars after a data breach compromised personal information, affecting more than 150 million customers.

Businesses have more than enough reasons to steer clear of cyber threats and security concerns. Hundreds of businesses have suffered from these threats, financially and otherwise. It is worth pointing out that the primary threats of cybersecurity continue to be around factors like data privacy, fraud attacks, and legal complications. It also ends up damaging the reputation of the company.

While all businesses are exposed to cyber threats, it is the financial world that is most vulnerable. They are the preferred targets of cybercriminals who find financial institutions lucrative due to the high volume of funds involved. Hacking one employee profile in a financial services institution can open up access to a large volume of data. After all, it is believed that a financial services employee can have access to nearly 11 million files on average. In larger organisations, this number can be around 20 million.

And that is not all. In two out of every three financial services companies, employees have access to more than 1000 sensitive files. 60% of these companies have more than 500 passwords that never expire. Then there are ghost accounts, i.e., accounts that are inactive and yet enabled. These loopholes provide a window for hackers and cybercriminals to steal data and cause damning disturbances. The fact that financial service companies are taking an average of nearly eight months to detect and contain data breaches does little to pacify our cybersecurity concerns.

Playing games with cybersecurity

Till the time the gaming industry was a niche market with a select group of participants, cybersecurity was not a major concern. The cybercriminals, after all, look at the risk and reward before hacking their way in. However, as the gaming industry develops into a multi-billion-dollar business, things have become more interesting for these fraudsters.

Cyberattacks on the gaming industry include manipulation of user credentials, web application attacks, phishing to make customers reveal vital information, replicating gaming platforms with fake websites and emails and so on. Distributed denial of service attack is also an increasingly used method of cyberattack. It uses service denial as a mode of distraction to carry out more elaborate criminal activities.

With the rising popularity of gaming platforms, the volume of personal data and credit card information disclosures has also increased. Take the popular rummy online platform RummyCulture with its 3.2 crore players. The platform attracted a Guinness world record gathering of 2.15 lakh real cash rummy players in a single tournament. This sheer footfall makes cybersecurity very important for a platform like RummyCulture. As a result, the platform adopts a variety of measures to ensure protection from these threats. 

Precautions and measures needed in gaming

These days, gaming platforms are doubly certain in their measures to ensure cyber safety. The trust of the player is the bedrock upon which the gamer-platform relationship is built. The 3.2 crore real cash rummy players of RummyCulture will remain with the platform only if the platform can maintain user trust. RummyCulture does so by holding player funds in a regulated third-party managed escrow account. The platform also maintains in-game security with a bot-resistance ecosystem, certified random number generation and 24X7 fraud monitoring.

Apart from user trust, gaming platforms are PCI DSS compliant, so their payment gateways are safe for financial transactions. A robust KYC and anti-money laundering mechanism is kept in place to meet regulatory compliance requirements as well. Platforms can also use multi-factor as well as biometric authentication to further safeguard the gaming ecosystem from cybersecurity concerns.

A secured gaming experience

While the threat of cybercrimes remains in digital transactions, gaming platforms are adopting cutting-edge tools and measures to protect gamers. For gamers, using a recognised and trusted gaming platform is key to their cyber safety.