New Delhi: The RBI, the NSE, and numerous other leading financial institutions have worked on awareness efforts to reduce the incidence of scams due to the rising number of cyber frauds nationwide. Nithin Kamath, a co-founder of Zerodha, thinks there is one preventative measure that might significantly lower the livelihood of being a victim of cybercrime. It’s 2FA time! The term “2FA” refers to two-factor authentication, claims Kamath. He opened that everywhere should have 2FA enabled.
What is 2FA?
Thanks to technical improvements, hackers can now quickly obtain credentials while checking in to any programme or website. However, 2FA is an extra security measure to protect your account. Account hacking is significantly more difficult because of biometric authorisation, OTP, etc., claims Kamath.
Everyone has become a target of hackers in artificial intelligence, especially corporations, because attacks can be financially beneficial. In his advice for companies attempting to avoid financial fraud, Kamath suggested enlisting the help of real technologists who comprehend user experience and behaviour as a beautiful way to reduce risks. Kamath shared personal experiences that he has applied at Zerodha.
Nithin Kamath said that in Zerodha they have a mandatory 2FA even for internal employee systems. Also, strict ‘role-based access’ means everyone gets the least access and privilege by default.
Nothing is connected to the internet by default & access is over “zero trust” networks. Employees can only access incoming external email when necessary. Zerodha protects any systems connected to the internet from botnets and DDoS attacks. systems for instantaneous observation and analysis. Additionally, Linux computers are used by every employee, including non-technical people, to minimise the attack surface. Kamath claimed to utilise Linux, Zorin. He claimed to be terrified of third-party vendors and SaaS services. “We self-host all our internal systems on private networks and almost no SAAS vendors. Everything is pretty much self-hosted FOSS (Free & open source),” Kamath wrote on Twitter.
According to Zerodha’s founder, there is no way to ensure there is zero cyber risk and it is not a purely technical problem. A significant number of hacks in the world involve exploiting human weaknesses.
But constant vigilance, good technology, non-tech practices and processes, and awareness of the risks can reduce at least some fraud.
“In a world of NFTs, crypto, AI, the metaverse, etc., we need to be almost paranoid about all digital interactions. Also, to always remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is,” Kamath concluded.
A report called, “The Anatomy of Fraud 2023′ by Bureau, an AI-architected platform recently revealed that account-related fraud added up to about 65% of all fraud cases in the financial services sector. And, about 55% of the reported digital payment frauds in India are UPI-related.
