CBK sounds alarm over increase in Cyber criminals

By Steve Umidha

Corporations and enterprises alike should double their guard against the developing threat of cyber criminals, the banking regulator has warned.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said yesterday in a statement that Cyber criminals are taking advantage of opportunities brought by digitization as more citizens enter the digital realm and as a result cautioning attacks are likely to increase in frequency.

“While digitization offers immense opportunities, emerging risks must be kept in view. Cyber security continues to evolve rapidly as more citizens enter the digital realm. Personal Data trails continue to grow exponentially as the pandemic accelerates the digitalization of the global economy.

We must therefore ensure that there are sufficient safeguards against these risks to protect our citizens,” reads in part the CBK statement.

Hacking activities targeting corporations has spiked since the pandemic hit as digital thieves took advantage of weakened security as the pandemic forced new work-from-home policies.

Since March this year, companies are reporting increased instances of pony-trekking mainly through password compromises due to the unprecedented changes in the way firms and their employees are currently forced to do business.

A report by Liquid Telecom for instance dubbed IT and Financial Decision Makers views on Cybersecurity in South Africa and Kenya published on September 4 noted that ransomware attacks increased significantly from March as the country curtailed movement to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“In Kenya, password compromises and insider threats were the biggest cyber threats. Just over half of the businesses surveyed have experienced a cybersecurity threat during the Covid-19 pandemic, with 46 per cent saying yes in South Africa and 75 per cent in Kenya,” reads the report, which also noted that phishing or social engineering attacks and insider threats were also on the rise.

Financial institutions like commercial banks and credit unions as well as government institutions happened to be the most vulnerable in the hands of the faceless criminals.

An estimated 40 Kenyan and 69 South African companies who took part in the survey confirmed financial loss, exit of customers, business closure and declining sales among other damages as the ensuing impact cyber-attacks had on their operations.

In November, experts warned of, especially banking fraud schemes involving social engineering, where criminals attempt to deceive individuals by performing confidence tricks.

Banking fraud occurs when someone attempts to take funds or other assets from a financial institution or from customers of that institution by posing as a bank official.

Technology expert at Cellulant George Murage is now urging businesses to put in place mechanisms to curb the rising vice.

“By constantly innovating around digital banking and payments to improve safety and security should be a key priority to such entities,” he said.

A commonly practiced scam is where fraudsters call unsuspecting account holders and trick them to divulge information that can be used to withdraw money from their bank accounts, sign them up for banking services or replace their SIM cards that are tied to mobile banking.

Last year CBK announced a host of guidelines on cybersecurity for the financial services sector in the country.

CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge, said the guidelines on cybersecurity for payment services would help in curbing emerging threats in the financial industry.

“The regulatory and advisory initiatives are targeted towards safeguarding Kenya’s financial sector from cybercrime,” said Njoroge at the launch of Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) 2019 Card, Mobile, and Online Safety Awareness Campaign.

“As a result, a single attack on any given commercial bank could have a devastating effect on the entire financial services system,” he said.