Cyber security: SA banks go big

Cape Town - South African banks are investing heavily in security to safeguard them from cyber crime.

Cyber security is one of the top seven focus areas of concerns for banks in Deloitte’s 2015 Banking Outlook report.

The report says banks around the world are looking to recruit specialist skills from military and government agencies to add defensive measures to their cyber security.

Deloitte’s industry head for banking assurance Darren Shipp said cyber security had hit South African shores in a big way in recent years.

“I’m not sure the local market realises the scale and severity of the threat. South Africa’s financial system is highly sophisticated but it has not yet faced the same level of sophistication of cyber threats on the same degree as that experienced by the US banking sector,” Shipp said.

But the South African Banking Risk Information Centre’s (Sabric) acting chairperson Susan Potgieter said following international trends, most large organisations in South Africa were making increased investments to mitigate cyber crime risks.

“The increased focus in South Africa on information security is visible with the recent launch of the cyber security hub within the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services,” said Potgieter.

She added that the Cyber Security and Cyber Crime Bill was currently available for public comment.

The bill proposes imposing penalties related to cyber crime, regulating powers to investigate, search and seize and also regulate aspects of international co-operation to investigate cyber crime.

According to Potgieter, phishing and related SIM swop incidents are some of the most prevalent cyber crime types in South Africa.

Criminals are also using malware to infect personal computers and cellphones in order to obtain client banking details.

“Cyber security is a high priority within the banking industry. cyber crime threats are global by their very nature and banks across the world are exposed to similar threats,” said Potgieter.

Shipp said that at the moment local banks were learning fast but they had been insulated to an extent as most cyber threats they had faced had been fairly localised.

“At the moment South African banks are not at the top of the list of people who may want to create havoc in financial markets, but that could change very quickly,” said Shipp.

CAPE TIMES