All About Securing E-Wallets

An e-wallet is an electronic application that allows any person to make e-commerce trades. The person can pay utility bills, book flights, buy goods, etc., with a digital currency.

Customers’ personally identifiable & personal information is permanently stored in e-wallets. It just requires a last verification from the user with the means like OTP.

But do you ever think these e-wallets can face threats?
Yes!!
They can face attacks like Phishing, Malware, etc. There are some solutions to prevent these attacks.

Let’s read about them

What are the threats to e-wallets?

1.  SIM Swap and Impersonation attacks:

SIM Swap occurs when the fraudster gathers user data, blocks his/her mobile phone SIM card & takes a duplicate SIM with fake identity. The mobile operator blocks the genuine SIM & issues a new SIM card.

How to prevent SIM Swap and Impersonation attacks:

Have you ever received spam calls asking for your personal details? Are you the victim of SIM Swap? Were you robbed online? Well, you are not the only victim, there are many like you.

The financial support staff or service providers will never ask you to share your private info.

Recently, a SIM Swap case occurred in Florida where a man lost all his life savings. Similarly, there are many cases of SIM Swap happening in India.

The Reserve Bank of India is constantly spreading awareness through the ads saying -“Not to share your personal info.”

2. Phishing & Man-in-the-middle attacks:

Complex threats like Man-in-the-middle or Man-in-the-browser attacks interrupt online transactions. They read the payment info from the internet gateway. It is done when the customer is typing his/her bank account or credit card info.

Phishing attacks are used to steal private data & login info of the user. Hence, it makes e-wallet accounts prone to fraud.

How to prevent Phishing attacks:

You will need to verify the URL of the website. For this, you will set up the website authenticity with digital certificate validation. You can perform the action- File> Properties > Certificates. Apart from this, you can double-click the padlock sign given at the bottom corner or upper right of the window.

Note:

You should ignore the text or email messages that inquire for your personal info. Apart from this, you should only put your details on “https” websites rather than on “HTTP” websites.

For instance, check the image above. Prologic Web Solutions, the parent company of GST Suvidha Kendra® works authentically. This is the reason why they have secured their website with https. It protects the confidentiality and integrity of its users. Hence, it is a credible company.

3. Malware attacks

Nowadays, mobile apps are not safe to make payments. They are threatened with malware attacks. It is a kind of attack in which an attacker injects malware to attack the app. They gather data from phones & misuse it.

How to prevent Malware attacks:

Always keep your wallet software up-to-date. This will provide stability in the app & fix security on time. The update can aid you to keep the wallet safe. Besides this, you should install updates for all other computer software to save the wallet environment.

You should use security software to detect and remove threats in the applications. It will include intrusion-detection systems, firewalls & malware and virus detection. You can prevent malware attacks by installing & activating mobile security solutions.

What are the best practices to secure e-wallets?

Use Secure Network Connections-

It is highly essential to prevent the usage of public Wi-Fi networks and connect with trusted networks. The trusted & secure Wi-Fi connections are recognized as “WPA2 or WPA”. These connections require strong passwords for usability.

Allow Passwords on Devices-

You must enable strong passwords on any of your devices before using e-wallets. This will add additional security layers on the devices & prevent harmful attacks.

Install Applications from Trusted Sources-

You should read reviews & view user ratings before installing an e-wallet app. This will provide you some info about the integrity of the app. You must check whether the e-wallet provider has set important terms & conditions. Also, check whether the provider has given the correct customer support number.

Set up an exclusive password for Digital Wallets-

You should set up hard-to-guess or unique passwords to prevent risk of unauthorized access.

Find out Points of Contact in the event of Fraudulent Issues-

You should understand appropriate points of contact for any fraudulent activity occurring on your account. The activity can occur when your phone is stolen/ lost or your wallet account gets hacked. The user must comprehend the terms & conditions provided in e-wallet apps.

Keep Login Credential Secure-

You can avoid the misuse of login credentials by not storing them in an unprotected file. In addition, you should avoid writing Digital Wallet access info in plain view.

Be aware of mobile phone’s network connectivity status-

You should not turn off your mobile phones to avoid receiving annoying calls. Instead you can avoid calls by not answering them. You should note whether you are receiving timely SMS notification of e-wallet apps. If not, contact the mobile operator to be sure your account is not under any threats.

Conclusion

India’s Digital Payments has shot up to 90% in the previous two years. We are likely to reach a good value amountby 2026. We must take some precautions to enjoy the latest technology.

Privacy concerns have become common these days. It is due to the increasing number of Cyber Crimes. Therefore, it is vital to educate masses about numerous threats they can face. They should take the above preventive measures & secure their e-wallets.