Banks Are Notoriously Reluctant to Publicise Cyber Attacks- AITEC

The key theme that is going to dominate across all sectors in 2014 is information security, including cyber security at national and regional levels, as previous challenges like in the banking industry have gone unreported because banks are reluctant to publicise same, according to Sean Moroney, chairman of AITEC Africa.

Aitec Africa’s core business has been focussed on ICT publishing, event management, professional development and training in Africa. It has been a market-leading pioneer in terms of spreading knowledge on the Internet, computing and telecommunications across most of English-speaking Africa.

Meanwhile, Moroney while projecting on the ICT trends in the current year said that, it is impossible to arrive at any accurate estimates of the financial cost of online and mobile fraud in 2012.

He added that banks are notoriously reluctant to publicise cyber attacks.

“But based on the incidents that have been reported and various expert assessments, the volume is escalating dramatically. The continent’s explosion of mobile money services as banks and mobile service providers compete for customers has increased phishing attacks on unsuspecting customers, in an effort to lure them to fake sites,” he said.

The AITEC Boss added that, Kenya for instance, could have lost up to US$23 million in 2013 through cybercrime, “according to cybercrime statistics released by Fred Matiangi, the Kenyan cabinet secretary for information and communication technology, with the banking industry the most affected”.

The African Union Convention on Cyber Security (AUCC), which is to be voted on in January, he further highlighted, proposes, “establishing a credible framework for cyber security in Africa through organisation of electronic transactions, protection of personal data , promotion of cyber security, e-governance and combating cybercrime.

“If 15 African states approve the convention at an AU summit in January, the AUCC is expected to be passed into law. For more detail CLICK HERE. The Convention has numerous critics for its potential to impose severe curbs on online freedom.

He added that information security will be a major focus at each of AITEC’s 2014 Banking & Mobile Money Conferences in Lagos (12-13 March), Accra (9-10 July) and Nairobi (10-11 September). In addition, AITEC is partnering with IEEE to hold the Information Security East Africa conference in Nairobi over 8-9 May.