Analyzing cybersecurity issues associated with mobile money usage in Malawi

Abstract

Mobile money has become a popular way to manage finances in Malawi, but it's not without risks. Cybersecurity threats are on the rise, and mobile money users are vulnerable to attacks that could result in the loss of their hard-earned money. This study aimed to identify the security challenges associated with mobile money usage in Malawi. Twenty-five mobile money users were interviewed through snowball sampling to investigate social engineering mobile money-based attack vectors. The study found that voice phishing (vishing) and text message phishing (smishing) are the most common attack vectors in Malawi that are executed successfully with a simple pretext (fake scenario from scammer). From the interviews, it was revealed that lack of awareness of social engineering attacks is a key reason why there is so much fraud in mobile money usage in Malawi. To address this issue, the study proposed that an awareness model be embedded in mobile money operations to educate people about social engineering attacks and how to prevent them. A low fidelity mockup representation of this awareness model is presented as an example solution. A sub-sample of the participants have found the proposed awareness model as being helpful in preventing mobile money based social engineering attacks.