News

African conference to address cyper/security threats

February 16, 2012

Participants from Africa and beyond will convene in Kigali next month to discuss ways to address the problem of cyber crime in financial institutions, according to a news story at allafrica.com. 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 organizations.

The workshop to be hosted under the theme "Tackling Emerging Cyber Security Threats" is organized 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 ATMs, credit and debit cards, and mobile banking security and Cyber Crime.

According to Sammy Kioko, alliance manager of Cyber Security Africa, the meeting comes at a time when various system improvements adopted by organizations in Eastern and Central Africa to rein in high rates of fraud have proved futile as fraudsters become increasingly adept at skimming larger amounts from target banks.

Kioko said that most banks do all they can to secure ATMs and POS terminals. However, banks cannot 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.

For more information on this topic, visit our security research center.