Tuesday, April 06, 2021 / 12:40 PM / By Ecobank / Header Image Credit: The Africa Report

The Managing Director, EcobankNigeria, PatrickAkinwuntan has advocated the use of artificial intelligence to predict securitythreats and proffer solutions. Akinwuntan who made this assertion at a webinarthemed, "Cyber threat Landscape: Financial services, 2021 and beyond." organisedby Information Security Society of Africa, Nigeria (ISSAN) on Tuesday, said ascyber-attacks continue to grow in intensity and frequency, ArtificialIntelligence (AI) can be a game changer, stressing that the manual and semi-automatedtechniques of monitoring and responding to systems issues of the past aregrossly inadequate to take care of the risk of the future.

He regretted the renewed cyber attacks onbusinesses globally occasioned by new technology and Covid 19 pandemic, "Technology has evolved and has changed the way we operate. Covid 19 onlyfurther accelerated the adoption of technology. Artificial intelligence,automation, internet have all created the opportunities for business to unlockmore values, but cyber threats have also increased both in complexity andvolume," adding that "The new normal of working from home has furtherexposed institutions to cyber-attacks and data breaches. Endpoints for remoteaccess must be secured or else institutions are exposed to attack by mismanagedendpoint. There is also the aspect of insider threat and exposure of password." Further, Mr Akinwuntan identified other threats faced by financial institutionsand organisations across the world to include cloud security threats and supplychain attack, stressing that a breach on one vendor could have ripple effectson the organizations.

Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability,Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, who was represented by theDirector of Information Technology (IT) at CBN, Mrs. Rakiya Mohammed said theconversation around cyber threat could not be more important than now,stressing that the apex bank was committed to strengthening the securityframework of financial institutions to prevent the proliferation of suchthreats. She noted that "The financial sector is particularly susceptibilityto cybercrime, given its crucial roles in financial intermediation in a highlyconnected financial system. CBN is committed to strengthening its regulatoryand supervisory framework for cyber risk and vulnerability testing for thebanking sector."

In his presentation, US -based Cyber Securityexpert, Dr. Austen Ohwobote advised that as the pace of digital disruptionaccelerates and innovative new technology reach the market, organizationsshould put measures in place to check cyber crimes.  He listed thedifferent cyber-attacks such as web-based attack, third party attack, insiderthreats attacks, and advised organisations to put resilient structures in placein order to understand the nature of attacks and when attacks are about tohappen.

For financial institutions to adequately checkcyber crimes, he called on organisations to adapt and implement cyber securityas a guide, recognise cyber security as big issue, appoint cyber securityambassadors, raise customer awareness, emphasize strong password andMulti-Factor Authorization (MFA), adding that cyber security expert should be amember of decision making and re-emphasize third party vendor management.

ISSAN President, David Isiavwe, called onfinancial service providers and other organisations that handle large data ofcustomers, to consider putting the right measures in place in order tosafeguard their operations. He stated that the advocacy group will continue tocreate cybersecurity awareness and data handling.

ISSAN is a not-for-profit organization dedicatedto the protection of Nigeria's cyberspace. It is also significantly involved inensuring the security of Banking Systems and applications, ATMs, e-governmentsystems and the entire cyberspace in Nigeria. It operates through awarenessheightening measures including the promotion of appropriate legislation andbest practices. ISSAN has proved to be a veritable platform for collaborationand exchange of ideas by members of the Banking and e-commerce publicespecially with regard to safekeeping of PINS, controls over passwords, accessto the internet as well as steps organizations should take to keep theirsystems healthy and safe at all times.

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