The Asia Pacific (APAC) region is the largest contributor to global payments revenues, with analysts expecting the sector to exceed US$1 trillion by 2022 or 2023, as reported at the Cyber Security Weekend held on Oct 14, 2021.
The virtual media conference themed themed “Marking the money movement in APAC” hosted by Kaspersky is aimed towards better understanding the pulse of digital payment adopters from the region and the trend’s security implications.
Conference presenters from Kaspersky’s researchers and an industry expert gave presentations on the rising e-money adoption and the cyber threats that come with it. Joining the session were the company’s executives and journalists from 12 countries in the region.
Kaspersky Asia Pacific managing director Chris Connell said the surging demand for digital payments has transformed the behaviour of online and offline transactions.
“Businesses are now digitising their operations to capture additional revenue through digital payments, while consumers are heavily reliant on it due to the ease and convenience it offers.
“It is clear that the demand for quick, efficient and low-cost payment experiences will encourage further innovation in this space, and we are seeing that happening with the emergence of real-time payment rails,” he said.
Vitaly Kamluk, director of Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) for APAC presented on the “New Generation of Financial Attacks”, and explained how targeted financial attacks could look like today, its main target and the scale of the theft.
He took the audience back to the infamous Bangladesh Bank heist attributed to an APT group named BlueNoroff, and believed to be the financial subdivision of a larger Lazarus gang that conducts traditional cyberespionage.
“Even years after the Bangladesh Bank heist incident, SWIFT, commercial banks and the rest of financial industry were carefully tracking BlueNoroff compromises and money theft of less protected banks around the globe.
“Due to a lot of attention over long time, BlueNoroff became less and less successful in their operations, which also required a lot of additional efforts for money laundering and covering their traces. This is when they started turning their heads to cryptocurrency, which price has also skyrocketed,” he said.
