Forum explores securing APAC cashless payments

The rapid growth of cashless payments are growing rapidly in Asia-Pacific is triggering a corresponding rise in cybercrime, which is costing the region an estimated $81 billion annually.

With new combinations of malware customized for local markets, phishing and social engineering attacks as well increasing e-commerce and ATM fraud, businesses are increasingly at risk for payment data theft.

Singapore’s cards and payments market is one of the most competitive and attractive in the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, 69% percent of consumer spending in Singapore is made through electronic payments.

It’s against this backdrop that global payment and cybersecurity experts met at the PCI Asia-Pacific Community Meeting last week in Singapore to collaborate on helping businesses prevent, detect and respond to cyberattacks that can lead to payment data breaches and fraud.

“We simply must work together to advance payment security,” PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) international director Jeremy King told attendees.

“New technologies are driving adoption of cashless, mobile and digital commerce in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region, and it’s critical that we ensure consumers remain confident in the security of their financial information with every payment transaction. As payments evolve, businesses must prioritize data protection with robust security standards and practices.”

The PCI SSC, meeting in Singapore, reinforced its mission to foster secure transactions globally and emphasized that as new cyber threats emerge, and advances in technology change the way payments are conducted, PCI Standards will evolve to protect the next generation of payments.

Regional and industry experts speaking at the event included representatives from the PCI Security Standards Council, INTERPOL, Verizon, Diners Club Singapore, Foregenix, Beijing Information Technology and Pen Test Partners. Presentations and discussions addressed a mix of regional and global topics ranging from new threats via the Internet of Things; cybersecurity trends in Asia-Pacific; Point-to-Point Encryption for protecting payment data throughout the entire processing environment; preventing skimming at ATMs and the future of mobile and digital commerce.