Information Technology (IT) security threats have remained a serious challenge, plunging most financial institutions and public organisations into massive losses in the East and Central African Region. This was revealed by Sammy Kioko, the Alliance Manager, Cyber Security Africa in Dar es Salaam at a media briefing ahead of a two-day summit East Africa Banking and IT Security slated for April 24 and 25, this year.
This comes at a time when system improvements adopted by organisations in the Eastern, Central and the Horn of Africa have proven futile as fraudsters have in recent years siphoned large sums of money from banks.
“The two day event will help players in the financial sectors, public agencies and other organisations to identify the technical, environmental and business risks that could lead to service vulnerability, weak consumer confidence and ultimately brand damage and serious revenue decline,” he said.
According to the survey conducted in Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia last year, the surging threats like hacking, malicious insiders, card skimming, electronic files manipulation, IT controls circumvention, unauthorised penetration and careless employees are common.
The Director of Information, Communication and Technology in the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology – Dr Zaipuna Yonah said there was still lack of law to govern cyber security necessary for prosecuting manipulators of IT operations.
“There are ongoing technical preparations for the enactment of the law expected to be finalised before the end of the year,” he noted. He added that lack of proper IT controls was also contributing to loss of revenues to the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) through the electronic credit payment system.
Some of the key issues to be discussed include the IT security threats, fraud, risk and regulatory matters affecting financial institutions, public and private organisations in their daily operations.
Credit: Daily News
