Strengthen Data Security To Tackle Fraud, Institute Urges Banks, Other Firms

The President, Compliance Institute Nigeria, Pattison Boleigha has urged banks and other financial institutions to strengthen their data security systems in order to reduce the level of cyber crimes and fraud.

Boleigha said this during a TVC Business Television programme monitored by our Correspondent.

He spoke on the theme, “How cyber crimes and fraud affect banks and financial institutions.”

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency had said that Nigeria losses about N127bn to cybercrime as a result of the country’s inability to properly secure it’s information system.

Cyber attacks expose organisations to the loss of intellectual properties and trade secret; online fraud and financial crimes, theft of personally identifiable information;  financial manipulation; disruption in production or services, and reduced trust for online activities.

This is dire for the expansion of financial institutions seeking wider financial inclusions for millions of unbanked Nigerians.

Boleigha described cyber crime and fraud as a business and regulatory risk issue that have the potential of disrupting the financial sector.

He said while the regulatory agencies are currently taking a proactive approach to ensure that threats to the financial sector are mitigated, there is need for a collaborative effort with telecoms firms, banks, insurance firms, and other stakeholders to stem the tide.

Quoting statistics from McKenzie, he said about $2bn is being spent globally annually by financial institutions to tackle the issue of cyber crimes.

Boleigha explained that so far, there are evidence to show that Nigerian Banks are compliant with data security framework issued by the financial sector regulators.

He said, “The numbers may be showing significant increase in fraud, but if you look at the number of activities that have been going on particularly in the banking industry compared with the fraud levels, you will agree with me that actually, the banks and the financial institution are really doing a lot to ensure that the issue of fraud is stemmed.

“Financial crimes typically happens largely because of the vulnerabilities in the system. You have to put in place certain measures for you to be sure your system is not vulnerable to fraud.”

On whether the Institute is in partnership with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to address the issue of cybercrime, he said that collaboration currently exists.

He urged all Organisation to put in place adequate security measures to check the issue of fraud.

Boleigha said, “Financial crimes happened because of vulnerabilities in the system. You need to put in certain measures to fight against fraud and cyber crime.
Closed to almost $2bn is being spent annually by financial institutions to fight cyber crime

“We should focus more on helping the financial institution protect the consumers. The institutions should put in place measures to eliminate those that want to gain access to vital information to commit fraud

“Fraud has almost now become a way of life in the world and we should start making serious control to check hackers.

“One of the things organizations must do is to have very strong firewalls system.

“They should ensure they educate their staff, they should know their roles and responsibilities as far as the systems security in their organisations are concerned and they must create awareness.

“Fighting fraud is not one person’s business, it’s a community effort. All hands must be on deck and everyone has to be involved in the fight against fraud and financial crimes.”