Modi’s gamble leaves millions of Indians vulnerable to mobile banking hacks

Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi’s gamble to usher in a new era of banking through smartphones is sure to make hackers sit up and take notice.

A recent instance in Dubai wherein hackers obtained duplicate SIM cards and embezzled Dh 1 million through the smartphone mobile banking app should have been enough to make the Indian authorities stand up and take notice.  However, the Indian authorities seem to be blissfully unaware of the perils of mobile banking apps and are blindly urging Indians to switch to the mobile banking channel en masse.

A recent WSJ report mentions that the situation has turned serious enough for the FBI to start paying attention. Specific apps are being created to target the mobile banking channel. UK’s Three Mobile and Tesco were also targeted by cyber criminals recently. The recent hack of 3.2 million debit cards is still fresh in memory.

Given such a state of affairs, belligerent insistence on using mobile banking channel is sure to have serious repercussions for Indian consumers. In his desperate urge to usher in the digital revolution, Mr. Modi seems to have forgotten that robust cyber security and security laws are the only base upon which such technology can be ushered in and not merely upon empty words.