Javelin estimates 7.7 million consumers with $221.5 billion in assets are at risk from mobile malware
San Francisco, CA, May 3, 2017: As smartphones increasingly become a nexus for consumers’ financial lives, their value to fraudsters has risen accordingly. Although mobile malware has yet to become a pervasive threat in western markets, it has created chaos in China and India. Today, Javelin Strategy & Research released its 2017 Mobile Banking Malware Report. This report explores the urgent need for financial institutions to begin security apps and adapting authentication before the threat of mobile malware fully migrates to Western markets.
The demonstrated capabilities of mobile malware are tailored to undermine the most prevalent forms of authentication used by financial institutions in the U.S., including passwords, security questions, and SMS-delivered temporary passcodes. Emerging capabilities can target online banking and newer authentication strategies such as document scanning and, to a lesser extent, facial biometrics. 
“The growing prevalence of mobile banking, mobile commerce, and financial activities such as person-to-person payments offers fraudsters rich opportunities for phishing login and payment credentials,” states Al Pascual, SVP, Research Director and Head of Fraud & Security, Javelin Strategy & Research. “As financial institutions reduce reliance on passwords, the smartphone is fast becoming the new authentication nexus. In response, malware is evolving to target and overcome mobile channel authentication.”
Javelin’s 2017 Mobile Banking Malware Report is based on information collected in a random-sample panel survey of over 5,000 consumers in November 2016. It explores the level of risk mobile malware currently poses to mobile banking, payments, and commerce.
Related JAVELIN Research
- 2017 Identity Fraud Report: Securing the Connected Life
- Mobile Payments Convergence
- Mobile Online Retail Payments 2016
About Javelin Strategy & Research
Javelin Strategy & Research, a Greenwich Associates LLC company, is a research-based advisory firm that helps its clients to make better-informed business decisions in a digital financial world. Our analysts offer unbiased, actionable insights and unearth opportunities that help financial institutions, government entities, payment companies, merchants, and other technology providers sustainably increase profits.
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