A RECENT study done by Kasperksy has revealed that one in five digital payment service users in Southeast Asia (SEA) still experience anxiety when performing online transactions.
Worry is highest with the oldest group, dubbed the silent generation at 30 percent. Interestingly, the “seniors” are followed by the youngest generation at 27 percent, according to the “Mapping a secure path for the future of digital payments in Apac (Asia-Pacific)” study.
The study also revealed that almost one in five (17 percent) users in SEA admitted that they would rather pay with cash, wherein the oldest generation again logged the highest percentage (20 percent) among all the age groups. Adapting to these new technologies can also present a challenge to the seniors with 20 percent of them noting difficulties in doing financial transactions online.
On the brighter side, nearly a quarter (24 percent) of all respondents from SEA indicated that they fully trust digital payments.
“The older adults are not from the internet age. Their worries are understandable and should be seen as a precautionary measure towards making costly mistakes in a technology they are still learning to use. It is, however, noteworthy that most of them (26 percent) do trust digital payment platforms. As they are welcome to adapt to changes, we encourage the younger generation to step forward and assist their older loved ones. Community and government awareness and education efforts are also essential,” said Sandra Lee, managing director for the Asia Pacific at Kaspersky in a statement.
Given their preference to be careful online, the oldest generation favors the efficiency of antivirus software the most. More than three in five (61 percent) of adults aged 55 and above showed the highest level of trust towards security solutions compared with the younger age groups.
While on the average, half of all generations in SEA (50 percent) understood the need for antivirus software to protect their money and online data, Gen Z showed the least trust at 46 percent, millennials at 49 percent and Gen X at 52 percent.
Almost a quarter (20 percent) of all respondents felt that the use of antivirus software was sufficient, followed by 17 percent where respondents were uncertain or unaware about how antivirus could help them mitigate the risk of financial loss.
Alarmingly, there is still some 14 percent who said that antivirus software was not an essential tool in the fight against cyber threats seeking to compromise financial data and property.
“The true significance of security solutions should be best understood at the present time when we hear about scams and financial frauds, one after another. Cybercriminals understand our habits and emotional states, as they are humans, too. We have seen how they are becoming more and more creative in targeting us with their social engineering attacks so we urge all generations to look into safeguarding their devices with the right tools to secure not only their data but most importantly their hard-earned money,” Lee said.
The “Mapping a secure path for the future of digital payments in Apac” study was conducted by research agency YouGov in key territories in Asia and the Pacific, including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Survey responses were gathered in July 2021 with a total of 1,618 respondents surveyed across the stated countries.