In this edition, we we able to get valuable insights into the industry from:

• Petra Mejas, Commercial Director at Mondia Pay
• Jasper Beelen, Head of Product Mobile at Creative Clicks
• Gaby Bosch, CEO at Content For Mobile

Quick Talk with Petra Mejas from Mondia Pay

Mondia Pay’s Commercial Director underscores the expansive opportunities of DCB in Europe. Petras points out its accessibility to both young and elderly users without credit cards, solidifying DCB’s position as a preferred payment option.

Quick Talk with Jasper Beelen from Creative Clicks

Creative Clicks’ Head of Product Mobile highlights the need for unique premium offerings in the competitive European landscape. Beelen also sheds light on the pivotal role partnerships, like the one with Evina, play in unlocking new markets and enhancing DCB’s security.

Quick Talk with Gaby Bosch from Content For Mobile (CFM)

Content For Mobile’s CEO touches upon significant European DCB trends, notably the focus of operators on fraud prevention and the inclination towards top-tier gaming products. Bosch contrasts the subscription habits of Middle Eastern consumers, who might juggle multiple subscriptions with Europeans, who exhibit a selective subscription approach.

If you’re a DCB executive interested in sharing your DCB and mobile payments insights at the next event featuring Evina, please contact us at communication@evina.com.

The post Quick Talk with DCB Leaders at Global Carrier Billing & Mobile Payments Summit 2023: Mondia Pay, Creative Clicks, and CFM appeared first on Evina.

Jamil Gaith: DCBprotect was giving us great results. It improved our brand image, got us 12 new partners thanks to reinforced partner trust and helped us expand our carrier billing business. Still, we noticed plenty of room for improvement by switching from webview to a fully native app customer experience. With DCBprotect, the protection required to show a page, so a small redirection within the app to acquire the user, and we needed this process to be frictionless while maintaining the best security level.

David Lotfi: This request brought the DCB experts at Evina and Mobile Arts to set up a clear timeline to develop an in-app native version of DCBprotect. This meant creating a cybersecurity version of the solution powered by the same cutting-edge technology as DCBprotect, but integrated into a native SDK. In just 5 months, DCBprotect in-app was developed and brought to full use. How do you feel DCBprotect in-app has already started to benefit the development of the Mobibox platform? 

Jamil Gaith: The first visible significant benefit is the stellar user experience delivered to Mobibox subscribers with the cybersecurity technology integrated into the SDK solution while maintaining the same high levels of security against fraud attempts on DCB transactions. MobiBox SDK is now offered to all kinds of mobile content merchants.    

Evina created the first and only cybersecurity solution for DCB transactions in-app native on the market, out of a client request.  This shows how Evina is on top of technology and client service, so much so as to adapt its technology to the specific needs of Mobile Arts in record time. DCBprotect in-app has allowed us to keep our business as safe as possible without compromising user experience and our business goals.”

David Lotfi: We’re thrilled with the results and can’t wait to see how our strategic partnership will continue to protect your patterns in the best way possible. What we have found very interesting during the development process of In-App Protect, is the large number of DCB transactions that happen inside apps and the information we can capture to create an even more secure experience. Detecting these transactions requires highly technical expertise, which is exactly why Evina has developed this first solution for in-app detection. Today DCBprotect in-app is supported by both Android and iOS apps.

The post How a native in-app cybersecurity solution for DCB transactions revamped the in-app user experience appeared first on Evina.

I am a telecom engineer. At the very beginning of my career, I interned at a Parisian startup that sold services via DCB, stayed there for a while, worked my way up and soon became the CTO. In 2013, particularly pernicious fraud schemes started to appear on the market, which had a strong impact on our business. With my team at the time, I developed a dedicated anti-fraud solution. This project was a great success and soon several MNOs asked me if they could use my solution as they realized that only our DCB services didn’t generate any complaints. I was convinced that it needed to be developed further because cybersecurity had become a necessity to ensure longevity of the DCB payment world. I bought full ownership of the technology and founded Evina with those who had helped me make this disruptive technology a reality.

2. Carrier billing is a promising industry, but very often it develops under the radar of the start-up world and VCs. You have recently raised more than 20 million euros from an American VC. How did you get their attention?

Forward-thinking VCs understand the advantages that DCB has over other payment methods and that in a competitive environment, betting on DCB makes a lot of sense. DCB is a payment method that offers conversion rates up to 10 times higher than that of credit cards, allows seamless payment flows and ensures a particularly high level of user data protection. The only missing piece in many parts of the world is cybersecurity though. 

The first action that truly allows DCB to flourish in regions where DCB is booming is always cybersecurity. We are fortunate to have partnered with a fund that is perfectly aligned with our vision: DCB will become one of the main payment methods of the future and its extreme security will make this possible. This is a great sign for the whole ecosystem of a bright future.

3. You’ve now been working in the DCB industry for more than 15 years. What are the key changes in the industry you’ve seen over the years?

This experience allowed me to personally experience the first golden age of DCB and then the eruption of fraud. This era created a real movement of solidarity and collaboration between the players in the sector. We’ve seen operators join forces to create best practices and set up self-regulation systems for the sector through the creation of professional associations. We have seen the emergence of working groups on cybersecurity issues in the DCB etc. Whilst all this is a positive step, I believe this isn’t enough. A lot more needs to be done.

A real polarization of the sector between those players who are betting on DCB and its full security through both regulatory framework and technical means and those who rely on the regulatory framework alone has emerged. This is true at both the operator and country level. The operators who gain the most market share are those who invest and secure their payment methods by using state-of-the-art technology, and the countries where DCB is most successful are the countries where it is best protected.

4. Why have the regulatory efforts and the self-discipline of the industry players not been enough to stop the fraud? 

Because we are talking about a technology area for which the law or best practice recommendations alone can only be expected to provide a partial solution. Fraud has become automated and cybercriminals have rapidly developed new forms of attacks, by hacking DCB using advanced malware.  It’s therefore necessary to provide a technological solution capable of adapting continuously and enforcing regulations. This means significant and ongoing investments over a period of  years to be able to identify new forms of fraud and to stop them in their tracks.

5. What is the real impact on players who are not fully aware of this technical fraud? 

The most immediate impact is the limitation of the activity. Many players have simply limited their DCB activity and have implemented more restrictive rules concerning their partners or the use of technology. This limits the universality of DCB payments and makes them progressively less competitive. The worst thing is of course that the lengthening of payment flows, the introduction of One-Time Passwords, and other restrictions cannot stop fraud, but it does drastically limit the activity. In most cases, growth is limited and the company stagnates trying to cope with the fraud. In the long run, the main risk is to be forced into shutting down, at least temporarily, because of a major attack. 

6. What are the players with the highest growth and profitability in DCB  doing to succeed?

They work on these basic fundamentals: conversion rates, end-user satisfaction, latency, and the quality of the partners they work with. 

The ideal for the consumer is to pay in one click on an optimized merchant site, and with complete peace of mind.

To achieve this ideal, the best players trust their partners to build the most optimal payment paths, they take full advantage of all DCB has to offer and attract partners that are particularly valued by the end user. To do this, they invest in the right technology solutions that allow them to trust their partners and control their business. And this is what a great cybersecurity solution can offer, capable of tracking the entire sales funnel, having total visibility of the flows and stopping cybercriminal attacks. 

The future of DCB is bright and we’ve reached unprecedented levels of satisfaction with our customers. And this is just the beginning for our industry. Juniper Research estimates that the market will reach nearly $100 billion by 2026, with the most secure players capturing a majority share of that pie. And by protecting themselves, they will grow the DCB market well beyond that level. 

The post MEF x Evina interview: What it’s like to work in cybersecurity for DCB appeared first on Evina.

The post-pandemic world experienced a rise in various cybercrimes, including fraud, and businesses are in need of better protection.

Since more companies started to move their operations online over the last couple of years, it didn’t take long for issues like fraud and fake users placing orders to start to arise. While some implement stronger authentication measures to distinguish real customers from bots, the slower and more complex payment process also tends to drive off genuine buyers.

To talk about how the balance between strong security and user-friendliness can make or break a business, Cybernews caught up with Joan Larroumec, the CSO and CMO at Evina – a company combating fraud in the mobile payment landscape.

Let’s go back to the very beginning of Evina. What was your journey like throughout the years?

In 2013, massive fraud patterns began to appear on the market, and at the time, David Lotfi was the CTO of a company in the direct carrier billing services field. Direct carrier billing (DCB) is a payment method that allows users to pay for any digital goods, with one click, and be charged on their monthly phone subscription bill.

To respond to the rise of fraud, which was causing increasing concern due to its severe damage to businesses, including compromising potential new business opportunities, David developed a highly sophisticated anti-fraud solution.

The success was unprecedented: the anti-fraud solution dramatically reduced fraud on DCB of the merchant who had implemented the solution, and all mobile network operators (MNOs) desired to work with this merchant.

Five years later, David bought full ownership of his cybersecurity solution. Then, with the help of his former colleagues and the determination to combat this otherwise infertile environment for mobile players, Evina was founded.

Can you tell us a little bit about what you do? What are the main issues you help solve?

Evina offers the most advanced cybersecurity for mobile payments operated by mobile operators, and all mobile players who use these payment services, to help fend off fraud and conquer new markets.

The mobile payments landscape is changing: mobile operators are in the process of becoming fintechs and thus major players in this industry. Mobile payment solutions offered by operators, such as direct carrier billing (DCB), are currently in full growth, with 20% of all digital goods in the world paid for via carrier billing today.

In addition, the DCB market is worth more than $40 billion, growing at double-digit rates annually, and is clearly one of the payment services that holds the most promising opportunities for market players with its fast payment options and easy integration.

Now, the biggest risk to the development of DCB is fraud. Fraud attempts on mobile are rapidly growing and because of its efficiency and popularity, DCB is also under attack.

Evina can attest that fraud-free DCB is an extremely powerful solution for business growth, and so it’s only by learning how to manage fraud that carrier billing can fulfill its true potential.

Evina’s anti-fraud solutions secure over +20 million transactions on carrier billing in more than 80 countries each day. Our solutions decrease complaint rates, maximize the number of legitimate transactions, and increase revenues. We have helped numerous major mobile operators decrease their fraud rate on carrier billing by up to 92%, decrease the related complaint rate by up to 80%, and increase revenues by up to 115%.

What technology do you use to secure payments without compromising the user experience?

The best user experience is super fast, extremely secure, easy to use, and always works. That’s why we operate in less than 100ms to validate a transaction (super fast), we block 99.96% of all fraud attempts (extremely secure), we bring a level of security sufficient to allow MNO to enable one click payment with super high conversion rates (easy to use), we have very low false positives (always works).

Our 15+ years of R&D have without a doubt helped us to achieve these levels of frictionless security and user experience. We don’t just use basic self-learning AI models as most cybersecurity companies do, but we rely on extremely advanced research and development to learn about all types of malware. Evina’s malware hunters scour the dark web to get to know how malware functions through reverse engineering methods. The firm’s focus is on understanding the diverse behaviors of malware, which along with the levels of precision of our tech, enable us to distinguish a transaction initiated by a human from that initiated from a bot.

Because we know exactly what we are looking for, we are able to block them quickly and with precision. Global mobile operators that have implemented our solutions have experienced a 5 time increase in transaction volume by restoring trust and allowing for more efficient payment flows and a 75% decrease in complaint rates. Thus, generating happier clients.

Did you notice threat actors using any new techniques during the pandemic?

These last two years, the market has witnessed an increasing number of advanced malware that can bypass two-factor authentication. This means these types of malware are, for example, able to read confirmation SMS and perform a transaction without the mobile user’s knowledge. In fact, we at Evina have always seen first hand that two-factor authentication is not an effective solution to block fraudulent transactions.

One of the latest discoveries has been a new Android banking Trojan dubbed Xenomorph, hidden in apps, that has in fact been doing just that: easily stealing from users by bypassing SMS authentication and other forms of 2FA. The pandemic saw a general increase in online activity and purchases, and naturally, criminal activity also resorted to the online world to steal and invest in, creating proper cybercriminal organizations.

What cybersecurity risks do you think new business owners often fail to take into account?

The first risk is to believe cybersecurity is only about protecting oneself from risks. Cybersecurity is about growth. If you are well protected, you can reach levels of growth you wouldn’t believe.

When faced with fraudulent traffic, businesses tend to implement the wrong kind of cybersecurity actions, such as the One Time Password (OTP), which is a unique password sent by text message to validate a transaction. Yet, they don’t realize that by doing so, they lose real users that desire a simple purchasing experience, while cybercriminals aren’t intimidated by OTP.

Generally, business owners think that cybersecurity is only a security expense, but they don’t realize that it can be, and is a business development asset. With the right protection, businesses can activate one-click payments, which multiplies conversion rates, enables them to buy traffic outside the big tech platforms, and allows for a better return on investment.

In your opinion, which organizations are attractive targets for fraudsters and should implement proper security measures as soon as possible?

Any business that operates on mobile or has anything to do with mobile payments is a potential target. The more efficient and popular a mobile payment solution is, the more likely it is to be attacked. The goal is never to stifle the most efficient and popular payment methods in an effort to prevent fraud, but to embrace their growth by using the latest technology to make them secure.

And finally, what’s next for Evina?

Evina is rapidly growing and protecting new players in the MNO payments ecosystem every day, and signing large international groups such as Orange that currently serves 253 million subscribers. These partnerships allow Evina’s cybersecurity solutions to be easily activated and deployed across the group’s
international subsidiaries.

Evina continuously strives to perfect its technology to remain at the forefront of cybersecurity solutions. Malware will continue to appear in all forms, becoming increasingly sophisticated and capable of bypassing all kinds of security protection (e.g. SMS authentication, facial recognition, etc.).

Although direct carrier billing is Evina’s long-standing expertise it has developed cybersecurity solutions tailored to mobile money that have been extremely well received by mobile operators. Mobile money is a financial transaction conducted using a mobile phone and associated with a SIM card, widely used in underbanked regions. Today, mobile money users number nearly a billion and continue to grow in places, such as Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, signaling the need to secure this widespread mobile payment method. Mobile money is a particularly promising payment channel for mobile operators, whose future as a financial player will also depend on its successful deployment. Evina is stepping in to ensure that the growth of mobile operators is not hindered by fraud.

The post Joan Larroumec, Evina: “cybersecurity is about business growth, not only about protecting oneself from risks” appeared first on Evina.

Evina: In 2013, widespread fraud began to emerge in the mobile payments market operated by mobile operators, and in response, David Lotfi, at the time a CTO working at a technology company, developed a highly successful anti-fraud solution.

Five years later, David bought back full ownership of his anti-fraud solution, and with the help of his former employees, founded Evina: the most advanced cybersecurity solutions for mobile payments. Evina was founded with the belief that it was possible for MNOs, merchants, and payment gateways to achieve high levels of economic growth if fraud is blocked the right way.

Today, Evina’s anti-fraud solutions secure over +16 million transactions in more than 70 countries each day, decrease complaint rates, maximize the number of legitimate transactions, and increase revenues.

Evina’s mission is to support the new business opportunities created by the Internet and to enable mobile players to thrive instead of being hindered by fraud.

SD: What is the main service your company offers?

Evina: We provide MNOs and all players offering mobile payment solutions with a suite of anti-fraud solutions to secure mobile payments, from direct carrier billing to mobile money, and simultaneously increase their revenue.

Evina’s flagship product, DCBprotect, detects fraudulent attempts on mobile payments so that mobile players can maximize the number of legitimate transactions, and increase their revenue by channeling the power of carrier billing.

MobileMoneyProtect detects in real-time fraudulent money transfers, local and international, either when users are being defrauded or when the MNO is being defrauded (commission fraud).

All our products aim to show the true potential of secured mobile payments and allow businesses to reap the benefits of reduced fraud and maximized revenue growth.

SD: What is something unique that helps you stay ahead of your competition?

Evina: Our 15+ years in research and development, cybersecurity experts, and cutting-edge anti-fraud technology that detects 99.94% of fraud attempts with <100ms latency, enable us to provide the most advanced market solutions to mobile players. Evina is equipped with an ultrahigh definition 3D footprint that captures online fraudulent behavior with the most sophisticated fraud sensors, enabling us to distinguish a transaction initiated by a human from that initiated from a bot, resulting in a false-positive rate of 0.06% – equal to no other.

Our edge computing treats and stores data closest to the end-user, and our global honeypot network in more than 70 countries attracts fraudsters and reverse-engineers their mechanisms. Our machine learning is continuously fed with millions of transactions analyzed every day, and our Cyber Threat Intelligence analyses threats coming from all sources, including the dark web.

The uniqueness of our solutions is reflected in the results achieved by our customers, such as worldwide mobile operators that, with reduced fraud, have experienced a 5x increase in transaction volume and a 75% complaint rate decrease. Proving that reducing fraud can be synonymous with revenue increase.

SD: What do you think are the worst cyberthreats today?

Evina: The big threat that cyber businesses face today stems not only from fraudsters but also from an underestimation of mobile payment fraud. Fraudsters are stealing money from users and businesses as well as opportunities that could have allowed businesses to reach new levels of prosperity. For example, without fraud and with more trust, quick and easy one-click payments could become the most popular payment method.

In addition, we need to prepare today for what awaits tomorrow. As criminal organizations invest heavily in cybercrime, seeking the high scalability and low risk of online crime, fraud will gradually become more and more automated, powered by increasingly sophisticated bots that will simulate users’ voices or fingerprints.

These threats can be managed starting today with the right anti-fraud solutions that are designed to support business growth.

The post Q&A With Evina appeared first on Evina.

What are the major transformations you’ve noticed in the mobile payment industry?

Today, mobile payment is readily available to more people and it is easier than ever to pay with your mobile. It’s the most frictionless micro-payment method on the market, and since almost everyone has a mobile phone nowadays, a large portion of the world’s population can use this means of payment. This is the first big change in the mobile payment industry, compared to when I started 18 years ago, when mobile payments still had a long way to go.  

Another, less positive change, is that with the increase in mobile payments, we’ve also seen a rise of fraudulent activities on this payment channel.

I’ve personally noticed that instead of really understanding the cause of the problem or looking for a solution, mobile operators and regulators have imposed stricter regulations and marketing guidelines. These restrictions simply made it impossible to convert the payment flow in some cases, and in other extreme cases, they’ve shut down carrier billing altogether.

This solution did work, to a certain extent. Complaint rates went down, but so have conversion rates. If a payment flow isn’t attractive, for example the payment page isn’t user-friendly, potential users will be less likely to follow through and complete their transaction. Of course, this also means less revenue for the digital merchant, payment aggregator, and MNO. In addition to this, unattractive payment flows are seen as a window of opportunity for fraudsters. They can find ways to deceive the user, such as creating a fake, more attractive payment page on top of the authentic payment page, with a button that tricks the user into subscribing to a service. 

Now, where will mobile payments go next? 

A few years ago many kept saying that mobile payments would disappear in no time. This was due to the increasing amount of fraudulent activities resulting in merchants getting suspended, cut off, and terminated by the carriers and regulators. But as you may have noticed, mobile payments are still booming. The industry knows how to adapt, new technologies are being invented, and today it’s still the most frictionless way to make a payment, when done right. If properly implemented, protected( with the right anti-fraud solutions), and sustained by the right partners, I know mobile payments will continue to flourish. There is still a tremendous amount of revenue to be made. 

What advice would you give to businesses that have invested in cybersecurity but are unsure of the effects of anti-fraud solutions on mobile payments?

I would say: you’ve made an incredible investment. The money you have invested in cybersecurity will come right back to you, and more importantly, it can double. This will leave you with more opportunities to invest in and more room to grow. But for that to happen, you can’t partner up with any cybersecurity company. You have to partner with an independent, cybersecurity-focused company, with cutting-edge technology like Evina. 

Fraud can really damage your business. Fraudulent traffic not only tarnishes your reputation and product credibility, it will also generate a lot of issues and lost revenue down the road, if not immediately.

Many merchants pay a high price for traffic of unknown credibility because they don’t have an anti-fraud solution in place. The ability to optimize your traffic quality and media spend by properly filtering out bad traffic will not only increase your profits, but also protect your revenue. Believe me, all carriers would love to have good, reputable and credible merchants on their side, making revenue with manageable complaints!

The post What will become of mobile payments in the next few years? Faezah Idrus, mobile payments expert, tells us all appeared first on Evina.

• A real-life scenario of an MNO when faced with DCB fraud
• How fraud protection can secure the user experience offered by MNOs  
• How MNOs can avoid being prosecuted due to unmanaged fraud 
• Why understanding fraud is the first key to fight the scourge of fraud

Below is an insightful excerpt from the video:

David Lotfi, Founder & CEO of Evina

 “When operators fail to contain fraud, regulators step in and the cost in terms of image, but also in terms of fines is so high that operators are forced to stop carrier billing. Some of them are even prosecuted”.

Fraud is pervasive, but its effects on mobile operators can be mitigated if the right steps are taken and mobile operators fully understand the scale at which fraud on their DCB can impact their business. 

Waste no more time and watch the video now to take back control. 

The post MEF video series – Fraud on Carrier Billing from an MNO’s Perspective – Evina & Indosat Ooredoo appeared first on Evina.

“How DCB Fraud Impacts the Mobile Ecosystem and Curbs Innovation” covers: 

• How mobile fraud affects mobile players 
• How legitimate transactions benefit all and how fraudulent ones are the polar opposite  
• Why fraud is a major roadblock to innovation in the mobile ecosystem 

Here’s a highlighted excerpt from the video:

David Lotfi, Founder & CEO of Evina

“ As the ecosystem is overwhelmed by fraud, market innovation can also come to a halt. Regulators and MNOs will want to complexify their billing process in order to decrease the chances that fraudulent transactions go through. Yet this will limit innovative mobile payment options, such as 1-Click payments, limit the amount of publishers merchants work with, reducing potentially interesting business opportunities, and limit the overall growth opportunity.”

The mobile ecosystem could see increased growth, with every stakeholder reaping the benefits, if all were protected against fraud.   

Watch and learn how mobile players are not destined to be oppressed by fraud. 

We’re here to guide you in this fight against fraud.

The post MEF video series – How DCB Fraud Impacts the Mobile Ecosystem and Curbs Innovation – Evina & Sam Media appeared first on Evina.

We’ve partnered with Telecoming, to deepen our anti-fraud collaboration and positively impact the world’s mobile ecosystem.

The mini-documentary covers:

• The mechanisms of mobile fraud
• The most common fraudulent techniques and how they work
• How mobile fraud can be fought

Here’s a revealing excerpt from the video:

“29% of marketers say mobile fraud is a top priority for their business right now, 84% of them believe mobile ad fraud will increase for the coming years, and 90% say things outside their control drive fraud.”

Put things back in your control by watching the video below and speaking to the right mobile anti-fraud partners.

The post MEF video series – Fighting mobile fraud – Evina & Telecoming appeared first on Evina.

To get the latest consumer insights download the free version of the MEF report here: https://mobileecosystemforum.com/mef-consumer-survey-2021-mobile-payments/

The webinar on the future battlefield of payments covered:

• Why MNOs need to rely on developing their mobile payments to drive value for their business
• Data’s critical role in making mobile payments a competitive advantage
• How high-quality anti-fraud technology and data analytics are incorporated into TrafficScreener
• Echovox testimonial: a mobile monetization specialist tells us how clean data helps optimize traffic monetization

Watch the full webinar below to learn how your business can get a head start on developing efficient mobile payment solutions.

The post Webinar – “The future battlefield of payments: cybersecurity and data analytics” appeared first on Evina.