Booming Fintech Sector Has Looming Cyber Threats

Dr. Gulshan Rai, India’s first National Cyber Security Coordinator, on the top five cyber security risks looming large on the burgeoning Indian fintech sector

- Soma Tah

Fintech service providers are considered torchbearers in digital financial services, particularly in the post-COVID world. They have been catalyzing and accelerating the economy during the pandemic. According to the NPCI data, there were 150 million active users of UPI in 2020, which is a 32% increase on a yoy basis. The total number of digital payment transactions has crossed two billion, the number of debit and credit cards are more than 950 million numbers, which is a more than a 10% increase YoY. Currently, there are more than three million Bharat QR deployed. However, with the phenomenal increase in financial transactions, a significant upward trend has been seen in the cases of UPI breach, credit and debit card frauds also.

During the launch of Aujas Cyber Defense Center (CDC) in Mumbai, Dr. Gulshan Rai, Director-General of CERT and the first National Cyber Security Coordinator spoke in detail about the top five emerging cybersecurity risks looming large on the burgeoning Indian fintech sector. He also explained why fintech companies need to build a strong cyber resilience system inside or outside their organization to protect themselves and their users from such risks.