Africa takes steps to counter economic cyber threats

Participants from Africa and beyond are set to convene in Kigali next month to discuss ways to address the problem of cyber crime in financial institutions.The Banking and Cyber Security meeting will bring together key stakeholders from governments, law enforcement agencies, financial institutions and security experts from leading Information Communication Technology (ICT) organisations.Speaking to The New Times yesterday, the Managing Director of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Morris Toroitich, said the forum is vital in helping to find a lasting solution to address cyber crime.“Our bank is well equipped with security systems network geared towards protecting cyber crime related threats,” he asserted.Toroitich stated that the forum is very useful and comes at time when banks in the region have become more interconnected.The workshop to be hosted under the theme “Tackling Emerging Cyber Security Threats” is organised by Cyber Security Africa, a technology security solutions company and supported by the Private Sector Federation, IBM East Africa, East Africa Business Council, among others.The one-day workshop will also focus on the security of Automated Teller Machines (ATM), credit and debit cards and mobile banking security and Cyber Crime.According to Sammy Kioko, the Alliance Manager, Cyber Security Africa, the meeting comes at a time when various system improvements adopted by organisations in the Eastern and Central Africa to rein in high rates of fraud have proved futile as fraudsters become increasingly smarter, skimming out larger amounts from target banks.“The security-focused event will help all players to identify the technical, environmental and business risks that could lead to service vulnerability, weaken consumer confidence and ultimately cause brand damage and serious revenue decline,” he affirmed.He said that most banks do all they can to secure ATMs and Point of Sale (POS) terminals. However, banks can not properly safeguard themselves and their clients if they do not fully understand the various ATM scams and methods used and the risks posed to them and their clients.Jean Bosco Rutayisire, the ICT Director National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), said banks have to keep up with technology advances to meet customer satisfaction, thereby relying highly on technology which comes with cyber security threats.“Our bank has installed security measures to curb any security threat like electronic files manipulation and other frauds that would deter the bank from performing its duties,” he noted.“The forum will give us a platform to share ideas and implement appropriate risk management strategies, optimise internal processes and ensure that systems and hardware infrastructures are robust enough to mitigate risk, assure consumer confidence and maximise revenues”.The Banking and Cyber Security workshop is an annual event hosted in rotation by countries across the Eastern, Central and the Horn of African region.