2010年5月31日 星期一

FW: Malware Blog news pickups: May 22-28, 2010


-------------------------------------------
From: All of PH AV Technical Marketing
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2010 3:17:13 PM
To: Newsbank; Marketing Writers
Cc: Jocelyn Racoma (AV-PH)
Subject: Malware Blog news pickups: May 22-28, 2010
Auto forwarded by a Rule


Daily Pageviews to blog posts picked up

 

 

22-May

23-May

24-May

25-May

26-May

27-May

28-May

Malware Blog

1,810

1,893

2,475

2,855

2,129

2,111

2,406

Pirate Worm Sails the P2P Bay
by Karl Dominguez

1

1

2

7

0

0

0

Latest Online Scam Targets FIFA Fans
by Gelo Abendan

-

-

-

-

52

37

38

Windows WMI Abused for Malware Operations
by Lennard Galang

-

-

-

-

0

81

73

 

Malware Exploits Windows WMI Service

PC1 News, AU  - May 28

In the particular attack spotted by TrendLabs, TROJ_WMIGHOST.A, a WMI script, arrives on a system along with BKDR_HTTBOT.EA, a DLL malware. The malicious script opens two Internet browser windows. The first window allows BKDR_HTTBOT.EA to execute via an ActiveX content. The second window allows the backdoor to post Microsoft Office files to a remote site and to execute other malicious scripts from the ghost IP. These backdoor abilities put users at risk of losing important and confident data.

 

Windows WMI used for malware

Help Net Security, US – May28

Trend Micro's engineer Lennard Galang has written a blog post about two pieces of malware that leveraged a Windows service, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), to execute their malicious routines.

 

Trend Micro warns of 419-style World Cup scams

V3.co.uk, UK – May 27

Gelo Abendan, of Trend Micro's technical comms team, wrote in a blog post of two separate spam runs exploiting the upcoming event. The first arrives in a .doc email attachment informing recipients of a 'Final Draw' competition run in part by the FIFA Organising Committee and offering a $550,000 (£380,000) prize.

 

Trend Micro Discourages Content Downloading from P2P Networks

SPAMfighter, DK – May 25

The newly discovered worm by Trend Micro, WORM_PITUPI.K, very well addresses the classic problem faced by P2P worms i.e. hard-coded filenames used to deceive users by masquerading as key generators, cracks, or authentic software.

.

 

2010年5月28日 星期五

FW: NEWSBANK:: $100 Million 'Scareware' CEO Was Already a Fugitive


-------------------------------------------
From: Paul Ferguson (RD-US)
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 9:07:25 AM
To: Newsbank
Subject: NEWSBANK:: $100 Million 'Scareware' CEO Was Already a Fugitive
Auto forwarded by a Rule


$100 Million 'scareware' CEO Was Already a Fugitive

Robert McMillan, IDG News

The CEO of a company accused of making more than US$100 million selling harmful "scareware" antivirus products was already a fugitive from U.S. authorities, following his arrest in 2008 on criminal counterfeiting charges.

Shaileshkumar "Sam" Jain is one of three men who were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday for allegedly operating a massive scareware distribution ring.

He's now thought to reside in Ukraine, but arrived there only after giving authorities the slip after being arrested by federal agents in 2008 on charges that his company sold counterfeit versions of Symantec antivirus products. Jain has been considered a fugitive by U.S. authorities since early 2009, when he skipped out on a $250,000 bond and failed to show up for a Jan. 12 California court appearance.

Jain ran a Ukrainian company called Innovative Marketing, which prosecutors say sold an astounding 1 million copies of fake antivirus products such as WinFixer, Antivirus 2008 and VirusRemover 2008.

According to court filings, Innovative Marketing was one of several companies that Jain operated, first selling counterfeit Symantec products and later moving into the scareware business with products such as WinFixer.

Symantec had already gone after Jain in the courts, winning a $3.1 million judgment against him in 2005.

Three years later, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed suit against Jain and the two other men charged Wednesday: Innovative Marketing Chief Technology Officer Bjorn Daniel Sundin and the man whose call center provided technical support for the products, James Reno of Amelia, Ohio.

The FTC won its court case, effectively putting Innovative Marketing and Reno's company, Byte Hosting Internet Services, out of business.

The scareware products that the three men are accused of selling are perhaps the most annoying problems on the Internet, and a constant source of complaints to security companies and federal regulators. They not only fail to protect computers, they often also bog down systems with spyware and malware.

Innovative Marketing allegedly pioneered the trade.

The company would set up fake advertising agencies with names such as BurnAds and NetMediaGroup, and then buy online advertising, pretending that it was for legitimate buyers, prosecutors say. These ads would be programmed to deliver scary-looking pop-up windows straight to users' desktops. The windows would typically look like Windows error messages or security alerts. To dismiss them, the victim would have to pull out a credit card and pay between $30 and $70 to buy Innovative Marketing's dubious products, prosecutors say.

Before the scareware came the fake Symantec software. Prosecutors allege that in 2003 and 2004, Jain operated a handful of Web sites -- Discountbob.com, shopenter.com, winantivirus.com and others -- that all sold fake Symantec products.

Jain allegedly drummed up new business by spamming victims or using pop-up ads to flog the fake software, which was then mailed out by someone identified in court documents as "J.R." of Amelia, Ohio -- presumably James Reno.

In a September 2009 e-mail to the IDG News Service, Reno said he was a young and naïve businessmen who was taken advantage of by Innovative Marketing. "I made some mistakes, of course," he said, "however they kept us in the dark on a lot of their operation."

Profits from the businesses -- which took in more than $100 million from victims in 60 countries -- were funneled offshore, prosecutors say.

That estimate is probably on the low side, said Joseph Bochner, an attorney who brought a class-action suit against Jain and his business partners in 2006.

Bochner says he tried for years to get federal authorities interested in his case, but without success. If they responded at all to his offers to share information, they told him the case was not a criminal matter, he said. "I'm extremely pleased to see the DoJ finally taking action in this case," Bochner said.

The harm these products cause consumers is immeasurable, he said. "What they're doing is charging you money for a program that doesn't work, on false pretenses, and then destroying your computer in the bargain."

Still, the U.S. authorities have none of the accused in custody. While Jain is believed to be in Ukraine, Sundin is in Sweden, the DoJ says, and Reno is expected to turn himself in "at a later date."

In a move that might help U.S. authorities prosecute their case overseas, the Department of Justice quietly filed international money laundering charges against Jain in federal court in New York last week. The charges allege that Jain moved millions of dollars overseas in an effort to conceal the source of the money he made from his counterfeit Symantec software sales.

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/197527/100_million_scareware_ceo_was_already_a_fugitive.html

 

-ferg

 

--

"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson

 Threat Research,

 CoreTech Engineering

 Trend Micro, Inc., Cupertino, California USA

 

 

FW: [NEWSBANK] Symantec's Norton security software coming to smartphones


-------------------------------------------
From: Sichao Wang (PM-US-ENT)
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 7:19:30 AM
To: Brian Katzen (MKT-US); Newsbank
Subject: RE: [NEWSBANK] Symantec’s Norton security software coming to smartphones
Auto forwarded by a Rule


And McAfee just acquired Trust Digital – an OEM partner we used in the past few years for encryption for mobile devices.

 

The reality is that malwares on smart phone have not become a massive threat, but clearly the mobile security attentions are shifting towards small footprint security functions, such as data protection (encryption and access control), safe web browsing, device control and central management.

 

Sichao

 


From: Brian Katzen (MKT-US)
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 5:58 PM
To: Newsbank
Subject: [NEWSBANK] Symantec’s Norton security software coming to smartphones

 

Symantec’s Norton security software coming to smartphones

By Marin Perez on Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 10:51 AM PST In Security

 symantec logo small Symantecs Norton security software coming to 
smartphonesSymantec is bringing its Norton security software beyond the desktop and it will soon be coming to smartphones and other connected devices.

We’ve yet to see a major mobile-centric virus hit in a large manner, but most experts think it is only a matter of time, particularly as these smartphones become more widespread. The company is launching a “Norton Everywhere” initiative to address this problem before it becomes too big.

“We are entering a new era where non-PC devices are exploding in numbers, which means more opportunity for cybercriminals. It’s becoming more and more critical for consumers to be protected beyond their PCs,” said Janice Chaffin, President consumer business unit at Symantec, in a prepared statement.

Norton Smartphone Security Beta for Android is expected to be available in June and the app enables users to remotely lock or wipe devices. There will also be anti-malware protection, as well as the ability to block unwanted callers.

The company is also partnering with HTC MobilityNow to test security products on Android and Windows Mobile. It will also have a Norton Connect beta for iPhone, Android and the iPad, and this app gives users access to files archived via Norton Online Backup. There’s also a mobile site, m.norton.com, which delivers new security guidelines, downloads and videos.

So, it’s great that Symantec is trying to help make our phones more secure but the simple fact is that many of these desktop security programs are bloated messes that kill your CPU. Will this happen with mobiles? I don’t think it will because many of the modern operating systems have been designed with security in mind – Android, for example, runs its apps in sandboxes to minimize damages. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s somewhat restrictive approach to its iPhone OS is also aimed at keeping away viruses, at least that’s what Steve Jobs said.

 

 

Brian Katzen

Sr. Product Manager, OEM and Partners

Trend Micro, Inc.

o: +1 617-398-0021 | m: +1 617-448-4241

 

FW: NEWSBANK :: Alleged $100M scareware sellers facing charges (FAKE AV)


-------------------------------------------
From: Juan Castro (SAL-LA)
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 7:16:56 AM
To: Newsbank
Subject: NEWSBANK :: Alleged $100M scareware sellers facing charges (FAKE AV)
Auto forwarded by a Rule


From Network World:
http://www.networkworld.com/gif/4shim.gif
This story appeared on Network World at
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/052710-alleged-100m-scareware-sellers-facing.html

Alleged $100M scareware sellers facing charges

Two years after an FTC complaint, Innovative Marketing is now facing criminal charges

By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service 
May 27, 2010 08:02 PM ET

Three men are facing federal fraud charges for allegedly raking in more than US$100 million while running an illegal "scareware" business that tricked victims into installing bogus software.

Two of the men, Bjorn Sundin and Shaileshkumar Jain, operated an antivirus company called Innovative Marketing, which sold products such as WinFixer, Antivirus 2008, Malware Alarm and VirusRemover 2008. The third man charged, James Reno, ran Byte Hosting Internet Services, the company that operated Innovative Marketing's call centers.

The company's products generated so many consumer complaints that the FTC brought a civil action against Innovative Marketing and Byte Hosting in 2008, effectively putting them out of business.

On Wednesday, a grand jury in Chicago handed down the criminal charges, meaning the three men now face jail time if convicted.

Reno is expected to turn himself in for arraignment, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release Thursday. Authorities believe that Jain and Sundin are living in Ukraine and Sweden, respectively.

In a September 2009 e-mail to the IDG News Service, Reno said he was a young and naïve businessmen who was taken advantage of by Innovative Marketing. "I made some mistakes, of course," he said, "however they kept us in the dark on a lot of their operation."

According to prosecutors, Innovative Marketing set up fictitious advertising agencies that would buy online inventory from media companies, pretending to represent legitimate companies. They then pushed out ads with hidden computer code that generated scary-looking pop-up messages, designed to look like operating system errors or antivirus scans.

The end result was always the same. To get rid of the pop-up warnings, users would have to buy Innovative Marketing's worthless software, prosecutors allege.

Byte Hosting's call centers were then used to "deflect complaints from victims who purchased Innovative Marketing software products," the Department of Justice (DoJ) said.

The scheme convinced victims in more than 60 countries to buy more than 1 million bogus programs, the DoJ said.

 

 

outbind://12-00000000A1F11A1B688C5340B7B544F7DA8F58E6A42C2B00/cid:171170416@07062007-11FD

 

Juan Pablo Castro | xSP, Latin America Region

Insurgentes Sur 688 P6, 03100 Mexico City, DF, Mexico

Office: +52.55.3067.6013 | Mobile: +52.1.55.1451.3437

 

FW: Newsbank: BBC - Mobile Banking transforming lives (but what of security)


-------------------------------------------
From: Susan Wilhite (MKT-US)
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 1:59:05 AM
To: Elizabeth Bookman (Corp Marke-UK); Newsbank
Subject: RE: Newsbank: BBC - Mobile Banking transforming lives (but what of security)
Auto forwarded by a Rule


I have a cool story about this. 

 

The Institute for the Future exposed a clever use of mobile phones and money transfer few years ago.  In India, each village has a person who sells cell phone minutes.  But she has to get the minutes to sell somehow.  People also have to get money safely from the cities to remote areas.  So they worked out a system.  A person in the city buys a cell phone card, carries it to a village and the cell phone minutes lady buys the card in cash (which she gets from her customers).  Small business entrepreneurialism and high technology.  Win-win.

 

Susan

 

From: Elizabeth Bookman (Corp Marke-UK)
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 4:34 AM
To: Newsbank
Subject: Newsbank: BBC - Mobile Banking transforming lives (but what of security)

 

Interesting story – highlights growth in mobile use, the (positive) opportunity that mobile banking is creating in developing countries.  Possibly because cybercriminals follow the money, this story does not touch upon the security risks related to mobile banking.

Mobile banking closes poverty gap

Page last updated at 9:59 GMT, Friday, 28 May 2010 10:59 UK

By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter Many people trust mobile banking services more than banks

Mobile banking has transformed the way people in the developing world transfer money and now it is poised to offer more sophisticated banking services which could make a real difference to people's lives.

Currently 2.7bn people living in the developing world do not have access to any sort of financial service. At the same time 1bn people throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia own a mobile phone.

As a result, mobile money services are springing up all over the developing world. According to mobile industry group the GSMA there are now 65 mobile money systems operating around the globe, with a further 82 about to be launched.

Most offer basic services such as money transfers, which are incredibly important for migrant workers who need to send cash back to their families.

M-Pesa in Kenya is perhaps the most famous of these and it has attracted 9.4 million Kenyans in just under three years.

Now it is ready to move to the next stage. M-Pesa, has recently partnered with Kenya's Equity Bank to offer subscribers a savings account, called M-Kesho.

Money Matters

It means their M-Pesa accounts will no longer be just about money transfer. Instead, they will become virtual bank accounts, allowing customers to open saving accounts, earn interest on their money and access credit and insurance products.

It is an extension to an earlier agreement with Equity Bank to allow M-Pesa customers to access their funds at ATMs around the country.

CGAP, a financial think tank based at the World Bank, was at the launch of M-Kesho.

"Kenya is sending a message to the world: poor people want savings accounts. Mobile banking is a powerful way to deliver savings services to the billion people worldwide who have a cell phone but not a bank account," said CGAP chief executive Alexia Latortue.

Meanwhile in Uganda, MTN, a mobile firm that runs a similar mobile money service has ratcheted up 890,000 users in its first year of operation. This is double what it forecast.

Richard Mwami, head of mobile money at MTN predicts the service will have 2m users by the end of the year, and 3.5m by 2012.

He admits that one of the biggest challenges of setting up the system was regulating the agents that provide the cash.

"We have had liquidity problems where customers walk into the shop and there is no money," he said.

And fraud is also a problem, running to one or two cases every couple of weeks.

Some 60% of users live in rural areas, where literacy rates are low and agents are often local shopkeepers, authorised to take deposits and issue cash.

"There is ignorance about how the service works," he said.

MTN has now begun an education programme, promoting and explaining the service on national radio.

Gavin Krugel, head of mobile money at the GSM Association (GSMA) believes agents are more trusted than traditional banks.

"Banks have revolving doors and armed security guards. Consumers believe they are for the rich only," he said.

By contrast, agents tend to be trusted retailers who have been selling airtime to the same customers for the past ten years.

"Every one of the agents are trained and those that misbehave are taken out of the system," he said.

Aletha Ling, executive director of Fundamo, the platform behind MTN Uganda's mobile system, said the challenges are worth it because it is easy to see how it is benefitting customers.

"Money gets sent from the cities to the rural areas where it is required. Less cash passes hands so it is much more secure. Previously people were travelling with huge amounts of money," she said.

"In one fishing village I visited it had created its own micro-economy," she said.

In Uganda the banking population is low with only 38% having a bank account and only 7% using more than one banking product.

Mobile banking can also provide a route out of poverty, according to the newly-appointed UK International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

Speaking at the GSMA's mobile money summit in Rio de Janeiro this week he said:

"Access to basic financial services - the ability to save, transfer and invest even small amounts of money - can make a huge difference to people around the world. It can help a farmer to survive a bad harvest, or provide a slum-dweller with the vital capital needed to start a small business,"

This is a view echoed by Mr Mwami.

"The mobile phone is demystified. People are confident about using it and the market is there for the taking," he said.

Disruptive technology

Last year Bill Gates pledged $5m to help the world's poor access banking accounts. The Mobile Money for the Unbanked Fund is being administered by the GSMA Foundation.

It has announced the projects which will benefit from the money.

It includes Bangladesh's Grameenphone which hopes to enhance its mobile money service with services such as a mobile ticketing service for Bangladesh Railways.

Money will also go to Orange Money to introduce more advanced financial services in Western Africa, where less than 4% of the population have banking.

Safaricom, the mobile firm behind M-Pesa, will get a grant to help non-government organisations and the Kenyan government get much-needed money to vulnerable households in informal settlements in Nairobi.

In Cambodia, the majority of payroll is given in cash and Cellcard is hoping to set up money transfer, bill payment and airtime top-up to urban migrants desperate to send money home to famiies in rural areas.

Similar projects in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Fiji will also also benefit from the fund.

Mobile banking is a slow burn, said Mr Krugel, but a potentially revolutionary one as long as it is born from what consumers ask for.

"In many of these markets offering a fully-fleged bank account would be a waste of time. Consumers need to understand the basics first," he said.

"At first they don't trust the system. Then they can see that it works and eventually they start to leave some money in their account. This is how they start lifting themselves out of poverty," he said.

The next stage is more sophisticated services such as funeral or hospital insurance.

"In African culture, for example, they believe strongly in respect and funeral insurance is extremely important," he said.

Traditional banks are now beginning to wake up to the threat posed by mobile services and are increasingly partnering with the mobile firms to tap the potential of a whole new market.

"M-Pesa was sufficiently disruptive that it forced the banks to respond. If the banks do see these services as a threat they will realise there is opportunity at the base of the economic pyramid and that is a job well done by the mobile industry," said Mr Krugel.

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Bookman | Marketing Manager - Free Tools & Threat Awareness

Pacific House, Third Avenue, Globe Business Park, Marlow, Bucks, SL7 1YL. UK

Office: +44 1628 400 513 | Mobile: +44 7956 396104

 

 

 

 

 

 

iphonesignatur_en

 

 

FW: Great interview with Rik Ferguson on new Testing Methodologies


-------------------------------------------
From: Susan Wilhite (MKT-US)
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 1:51:48 AM
To: Kristen Verdi (MKT-US-C); Jon Clay (MKT-US)
Cc: Newsbank
Subject: RE: Great interview with Rik Ferguson on new Testing Methodologies
Auto forwarded by a Rule


It is also being posted in the Announcements in Trend Community.  Kudos to Dal for getting it on the Business Security forum first.

 

Susan

 

From: Kristen Verdi (MKT-US-C)
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 7:56 AM
To: Jon Clay (MKT-US)
Cc: Newsbank
Subject: Re: Great interview with Rik Ferguson on new Testing Methodologies

 

This interview is posted on Trend's YouTube channel (www.YouTube.com/trendmicroinc) as well.

 

Thanks,

Kristen


On May 28, 2010, at 7:17 AM, "Jon Clay (MKT-US)" <Jon_Clay@trendmicro.com> wrote:

Great job Rik and EMEA marketing bringing this interview on why we need new testing methodologies.  Send the link to your customers, partners and prospects.

 

Headline:   Cutting Through The Propaganda, software testing methodologies that work
Publication Date:   05/27/2010   Outlet:   SC Magazine  
Country:   United Kingdom
Byline:   Dan Raywood

Article Summary: 

Rik Ferguson, Trend Micro's Senior Security Advisor, is interviewed by SC Magazine in relation to software testing methodologies.

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

<image001.gif>

Jon Clay | Sr. Core Technology Marketing Manager

Office: 970.419.0611 | Mobile: 970.217.4984

 

Block more threats with Smart Protection Network

 

FW: Great interview with Rik Ferguson on new Testing Methodologies


-------------------------------------------
From: Kristen Verdi (MKT-US-C)
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 10:55:35 PM
To: Jon Clay (MKT-US)
Cc: Newsbank
Subject: Re: Great interview with Rik Ferguson on new Testing Methodologies
Auto forwarded by a Rule


This interview is posted on Trend's YouTube channel (www.YouTube.com/trendmicroinc) as well.

Thanks,
Kristen

On May 28, 2010, at 7:17 AM, "Jon Clay (MKT-US)" <Jon_Clay@trendmicro.com> wrote:

Great job Rik and EMEA marketing bringing this interview on why we need new testing methodologies.  Send the link to your customers, partners and prospects.

 

Headline:   Cutting Through The Propaganda, software testing methodologies that work
Publication Date:   05/27/2010   Outlet:   SC Magazine  
Country:   United Kingdom
Byline:   Dan Raywood

Article Summary: 

Rik Ferguson, Trend Micro's Senior Security Advisor, is interviewed by SC Magazine in relation to software testing methodologies.

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

<image001.gif>

Jon Clay | Sr. Core Technology Marketing Manager

Office: 970.419.0611 | Mobile: 970.217.4984

 

Block more threats with Smart Protection Network

 

FW: Great interview with Rik Ferguson on new Testing Methodologies


-------------------------------------------
From: Jon Clay (MKT-US)
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 10:17:25 PM
To: Newsbank
Subject: Great interview with Rik Ferguson on new Testing Methodologies
Auto forwarded by a Rule


Great job Rik and EMEA marketing bringing this interview on why we need new testing methodologies.  Send the link to your customers, partners and prospects.

 

Headline:   Cutting Through The Propaganda, software testing methodologies that work
Publication Date:   05/27/2010   Outlet:   SC Magazine  
Country:   United Kingdom
Byline:   Dan Raywood

Article Summary: 

Rik Ferguson, Trend Micro's Senior Security Advisor, is interviewed by SC Magazine in relation to software testing methodologies.

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

logo_Signature_2007

Jon Clay | Sr. Core Technology Marketing Manager

Office: 970.419.0611 | Mobile: 970.217.4984

 

Block more threats with Smart Protection Network

 

FW: Newsbank: BBC - Mobile Banking transforming lives (but what of security)


-------------------------------------------
From: Elizabeth Bookman (Corp Marke-UK)
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 7:34:18 PM
To: Newsbank
Subject: Newsbank: BBC - Mobile Banking transforming lives (but what of security)
Auto forwarded by a Rule


Interesting story – highlights growth in mobile use, the (positive) opportunity that mobile banking is creating in developing countries.  Possibly because cybercriminals follow the money, this story does not touch upon the security risks related to mobile banking.

Mobile banking closes poverty gap

Page last updated at 9:59 GMT, Friday, 28 May 2010 10:59 UK

By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter Many people trust mobile banking services more than banks

Mobile banking has transformed the way people in the developing world transfer money and now it is poised to offer more sophisticated banking services which could make a real difference to people's lives.

Currently 2.7bn people living in the developing world do not have access to any sort of financial service. At the same time 1bn people throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia own a mobile phone.

As a result, mobile money services are springing up all over the developing world. According to mobile industry group the GSMA there are now 65 mobile money systems operating around the globe, with a further 82 about to be launched.

Most offer basic services such as money transfers, which are incredibly important for migrant workers who need to send cash back to their families.

M-Pesa in Kenya is perhaps the most famous of these and it has attracted 9.4 million Kenyans in just under three years.

Now it is ready to move to the next stage. M-Pesa, has recently partnered with Kenya's Equity Bank to offer subscribers a savings account, called M-Kesho.

Money Matters

It means their M-Pesa accounts will no longer be just about money transfer. Instead, they will become virtual bank accounts, allowing customers to open saving accounts, earn interest on their money and access credit and insurance products.

It is an extension to an earlier agreement with Equity Bank to allow M-Pesa customers to access their funds at ATMs around the country.

CGAP, a financial think tank based at the World Bank, was at the launch of M-Kesho.

"Kenya is sending a message to the world: poor people want savings accounts. Mobile banking is a powerful way to deliver savings services to the billion people worldwide who have a cell phone but not a bank account," said CGAP chief executive Alexia Latortue.

Meanwhile in Uganda, MTN, a mobile firm that runs a similar mobile money service has ratcheted up 890,000 users in its first year of operation. This is double what it forecast.

Richard Mwami, head of mobile money at MTN predicts the service will have 2m users by the end of the year, and 3.5m by 2012.

He admits that one of the biggest challenges of setting up the system was regulating the agents that provide the cash.

"We have had liquidity problems where customers walk into the shop and there is no money," he said.

And fraud is also a problem, running to one or two cases every couple of weeks.

Some 60% of users live in rural areas, where literacy rates are low and agents are often local shopkeepers, authorised to take deposits and issue cash.

"There is ignorance about how the service works," he said.

MTN has now begun an education programme, promoting and explaining the service on national radio.

Gavin Krugel, head of mobile money at the GSM Association (GSMA) believes agents are more trusted than traditional banks.

"Banks have revolving doors and armed security guards. Consumers believe they are for the rich only," he said.

By contrast, agents tend to be trusted retailers who have been selling airtime to the same customers for the past ten years.

"Every one of the agents are trained and those that misbehave are taken out of the system," he said.

Aletha Ling, executive director of Fundamo, the platform behind MTN Uganda's mobile system, said the challenges are worth it because it is easy to see how it is benefitting customers.

"Money gets sent from the cities to the rural areas where it is required. Less cash passes hands so it is much more secure. Previously people were travelling with huge amounts of money," she said.

"In one fishing village I visited it had created its own micro-economy," she said.

In Uganda the banking population is low with only 38% having a bank account and only 7% using more than one banking product.

Mobile banking can also provide a route out of poverty, according to the newly-appointed UK International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell.

Speaking at the GSMA's mobile money summit in Rio de Janeiro this week he said:

"Access to basic financial services - the ability to save, transfer and invest even small amounts of money - can make a huge difference to people around the world. It can help a farmer to survive a bad harvest, or provide a slum-dweller with the vital capital needed to start a small business,"

This is a view echoed by Mr Mwami.

"The mobile phone is demystified. People are confident about using it and the market is there for the taking," he said.

Disruptive technology

Last year Bill Gates pledged $5m to help the world's poor access banking accounts. The Mobile Money for the Unbanked Fund is being administered by the GSMA Foundation.

It has announced the projects which will benefit from the money.

It includes Bangladesh's Grameenphone which hopes to enhance its mobile money service with services such as a mobile ticketing service for Bangladesh Railways.

Money will also go to Orange Money to introduce more advanced financial services in Western Africa, where less than 4% of the population have banking.

Safaricom, the mobile firm behind M-Pesa, will get a grant to help non-government organisations and the Kenyan government get much-needed money to vulnerable households in informal settlements in Nairobi.

In Cambodia, the majority of payroll is given in cash and Cellcard is hoping to set up money transfer, bill payment and airtime top-up to urban migrants desperate to send money home to famiies in rural areas.

Similar projects in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Fiji will also also benefit from the fund.

Mobile banking is a slow burn, said Mr Krugel, but a potentially revolutionary one as long as it is born from what consumers ask for.

"In many of these markets offering a fully-fleged bank account would be a waste of time. Consumers need to understand the basics first," he said.

"At first they don't trust the system. Then they can see that it works and eventually they start to leave some money in their account. This is how they start lifting themselves out of poverty," he said.

The next stage is more sophisticated services such as funeral or hospital insurance.

"In African culture, for example, they believe strongly in respect and funeral insurance is extremely important," he said.

Traditional banks are now beginning to wake up to the threat posed by mobile services and are increasingly partnering with the mobile firms to tap the potential of a whole new market.

"M-Pesa was sufficiently disruptive that it forced the banks to respond. If the banks do see these services as a threat they will realise there is opportunity at the base of the economic pyramid and that is a job well done by the mobile industry," said Mr Krugel.

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Bookman | Marketing Manager - Free Tools & Threat Awareness

Pacific House, Third Avenue, Globe Business Park, Marlow, Bucks, SL7 1YL. UK

Office: +44 1628 400 513 | Mobile: +44 7956 396104

 

 

 

 

 

 

iphonesignatur_en