Financial firms lax on cybercrime losses

·19 Jul 2014

A new survey finds that as many as 52% of financial companies reimburse customer losses caused by Internet fraud without investigating the circumstances.

Kaspersky Lab found that almost a third of companies believe the costs incurred by cyber threats are less than the cost of protection.

Many organisations that work with online payments are prepared to accept the additional costs that arise from cyber-attacks, the maker of anti-virus software said.

28% of the representatives from financial companies and 32% of the online store employees polled “are sure” that the total losses from online crime, including reimbursement of stolen money, do not exceed the costs of deploying security solutions.

Only 19% of financial companies and 7% of online marketplaces cite the cost of compensating customer losses in the top three most serious consequences of cyber fraud.

Kaspersky found that nearly 4 million users of it’s products encountered financial malware that attempted to steal their money in 2013, up 18.6% from 2012.

“Obviously, the continued growth in cybercrime will lead to a situation where the compensation paid out by companies will exceed both the cost of protecting financial transactions and their compensation budgets,” the firm said.

“Besides the need for financial companies to set aside funds in their budgets to reimburse money stolen from customers, they also have to cover the costs of dealing with customer complaints. But most importantly, even if the victims are reimbursed quickly, they are likely to think twice about using the services of a bank that can’t ensure their online accounts are secure,” said Kaspersky Lab’s Ross Hogan.

According to another Kaspersky Lab survey, 57% of users pay little or no attention to the security of their online payments because they believe all the necessary measures are taken by their bank.