Reduced SMS fraud losses expected next year

Overall subscriber losses from smishing, account hijacking, and other SMS fraud are expected to decrease from $80 billion this year to $71 billion in 2026, reports Infosecurity Magazine.

Reduced messaging volumes and more stringent mobile operator security measures, including improved firewall capabilities, will be driving such a decline in losses, findings from Juniper Research revealed. However, the emergence of new mobile threats stemming from Rich Communication Service messages should prompt operators to adopt firewalls with deep content inspection capabilities that allow real-time fraud detection.

"By analyzing message content, rather than just the source, operators can not only block new fraud vectors faster, but also better protect subscribers as traffic shifts toward RCS," said Juniper Research senior researcher Ardit Ballhysa.

Such findings come after Chinese phishing operation Smishing Triad was reported by SecAlliance to have stolen up to 115 million payment cards across the U.S.