Forging a common front to combat cybercrime, rather than seeing themselves as competitors, is the ideal way to tackle cyber insecurity, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Mrs. Mansa Nettey has observed.
The banking industry can protect itself from the growing threat of cybercrime if players engage with one another, and these sentiments provide a formidable front in the fight against the incidence of growing cybercrime.
Standard Chartered Bank held its first forum on digital banking and cybercrime in Accra this week, and these thoughts were expressed as a means of countering the incidence of cybercrime.
In line with the above, the Bank of Ghana Governor-Dr. Ernest Addison, indicated that the Bank has prepared a banking sector Cyber and Information Security guideline to protect consumers and create a safer environment for e-payments and online products.
This is crucial, since cybercrime has assumed alarming proportions in recent times and there is a need to counter the threat. A report by Kenyan-based IT firm Serianu Limited has revealed that the economy lost a total of US$50million to cybercrime in 2016.
Worryingly, the report states that most organisations in Africa are ill-prepared to deal with information security threats.
It is against this background that the Ministry of Communications in 2014 drafted the Ghana National Cyber Security Policy and Strategy to serve as a roadmap for securing the country’s cyberspace, as well as to boost investors’ confidence.
Electronic fraud constitutes more than 80 percent of all complaints and fraud cases the central bank receives, data from the Consumer Reporting Unit of the central bank’s Financial Stability Department shows.
Cyber security is indeed the most pervasive risk issue faced by organisations worldwide today.
Correction: In the Wednesday, March 22 edition of the B&FT, in our editorial we inadvertently designated Madam Elsie Awadzi as the first Deputy-Governor of the BoG. It should have read 2nd Deputy-Governor. The error is deeply regretted.
