Security company iovation and CEB's TowerGroup announced Aug. 13 that 20% of all online financial transactions are performed on a mobile device. That figure is up from just 11% in 2012.

In 2011, per iovation's numbers, mobile amounted to just 2% of financial services transactions.

“Banks are aggressively innovating for their mobile apps right now, competing for market share and customer retention,” said iovation Vice President, Global Sales Max Anhoury in a statement.

That rise in mobile market share has triggered significant, new security concerns, according to iovation.

“We found that financial institutions are not able to integrate security protocols as quickly as they would like since the 'old' security measures may not be well suited for the 'new' mobile world. This means that mobile transactions can be like the Wild West for fraudsters,” Anhoury said.

In an interview, iovation Chief Technology Officer Scott Waddell said the mobile platform is proving cumbersome for fraudsters, but they nonetheless are increasingly focused on it. He added that criminals are increasingly using mobile devices to lure users into revealing their log in credentials so they can facilitate account takeovers.

Waddell also said that up until now most financial institutions have not used mobile devices to improve account security—in two-factor authentication, for instance. But, he said, there is movement by financial institutions to attempt to harness mobile as a security tool.

“More financial institutions are showing an interest in smart two-factor authentication,” he said.

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