Key Trends that’ll Impact Online Security in 2016

- Atul Singh - Regional Director - India Subcontinent, Banking, Transport & Telecom Solutions, Gemalto

Recently, security has become a growing concern for both individuals and enterprises. Identity thefts, data breaches, malware and other forms of attacks have brought security in the spotlight. The growth in mobile and connected devices, internet adoption, machine to machine, mobile banking and adoption of technologies like cloud computing, have propelled the need for stronger security measures.

As we shift towards a more digitized world, new and sophisticated risks and threats from hackers and malicious users will continue to proliferate. In 2016, this will be no different and security will continue to gain importance. Here are three key trends we will see in the New Year:

Atul Singh

Regional Director - India Subcontinent, Banking,

Transport & Telecom Solutions, Gemalto

Securing India’s growing transactions space

India is experiencing an explosive growth in transactions. There are close to 600 million debits cards today, with over 170 million added in the past year.1 Mobile wallets have also seen similar traction to debit cards, touching INR 125.99 billion between April-July2015, according to a PwC report, commissioned by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and the Payments Council of India (PCI).2 The rapid growth in transactions corresponds with an equally consistent growth in frauds, highlighting the need to securing physical and digital transactions.

To combat frauds, we have already seen some security implementations in 2015 that will continue in 2016, this includes the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) mandate that by January 31, 2016, all debit and credit cards should be EMV chip and pin based cards.

Furthermore, multi-factor authentication will play a significant role in the next year. This includes the use of one-time passwords, biometrics, especially the use of public key infrastructure (PKI) in payment system applications – another RBI suggestion to improve transaction security.

Of course, as frauds become more complex, newer technologies to counter them will also be implemented. This includes Dynamic Code Verification, which protects users against Card-Not-Present fraud by using a dynamic 3 digit code which changes every 15 minutes adding a layer of security and dramatically enhancing the security level of online transactions.

Securing the breach

Security breaches are growing rampantly. In India, in the last year alone, the number of cyber attacks doubled to 6,284, according to PwC.

By implementing a three-pronged approach – encrypting all sensitive data at rest and in transit, securely managing and storing all cryptographic keys, and controlling access and authentication of users – organizations can effectively mitigate the effects of a breach and protect their assets.

Securing IoT

By 2020, India plans on contributing five to six percent to the global IoT market estimated to be USD 300 billion. Initiatives such as the 100 Smart Cities and Digital India coupled with the growing number of connected and smart devices will pave the way for the uptake of IoT applications. This will bring about the exchange, collection and use of billions of megabytes of data. According to a survey by Telecoms.com, only 10 percent of vendors think they are ready to keep IoT secure. Of course securing data will imperative, therefore in 2016, we will see a shift towards securing the IoT ecosystem – from identities, networks, data, etc. The implementation of multiple layers of security such as encryption of data, tokenization or even PKI will be essential to ensure a security framework is in place to protect IoT.