LEAKY ACCOUNTS AND BANK POSITIONS ON SAFETY

BANK ACCOUNT COMPROMISES EXPECTED TO  GET WORSE AS FESTIVE SEASON APPROACHES – UBA’s EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

BY JENNIFER NWOSU 

Emem Usoro, executive director, United Bank for Africa (UBA) in charge of Northern operations (Nigerian North Bank), has raised the alarm that increasing wave of cybercrimes and cyberattacks in Nigeria was likely to worsen as festive season approaches.

Usoro expressed fears that bank account compromises could get worse in months to come.

The bank executive gave the warning in a recent interview with some editors, where she also pointed out that cybercrimes and financial frauds have assumed a disturbing trend that puts at risk electronic payment or e-payment transactions estimated to worth an average of N30.2 trillion monthly.

According to her, “Findings show that as more Nigerians are embracing e-transactions daily, so is the surge in cybercrimes, as cybercriminals are getting adept in the clean sweep of bank accounts of unsuspecting users. While banks are facing a dearth of IT staff (Japa syndrome) to promptly respond to cyber threats, bank account compromises are expected to get worse as the festive season approaches.

She noted that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued 10 cyber alerts to warn Nigerians about the possible danger associated with or targeted at some platforms, including Cisco and lately telegram, which these cyber criminals exploit to cause havoc.”

A January report by Financial Institutions Training Centre which disclosed that Nigerian bank customers lost a total of N2.72bn to fraud in the first and second quarters of 2022.

Read also: Nigerian bank branches lost N5.5bn to fraud highest in 5yrs

Between July and September 2020, banks, according to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, lost N3.5bn to fraud-related incidents, representing a 534 percent increase from the same period in 2019, when it was N552m; In 2018, commercial banks in Nigeria lost a cumulative N15bn ($32.36m) to electronic fraud and cybercrime. This was a 537percent increase on the N2.37bn loss recorded in 2017; Nigeria’s Consumer Awareness and Financial Enlightenment Initiative had projected a $6tn loss by 2030 to cybercrime within and outside Nigeria. These crimes are committed mostly through phishing and identity theft.

She also recalled that “In March 2023, the Lagos State Police Command arraigned a fraud syndicate comprising eight men before the Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly hacking the server of an electronic platform, ITEX Integrated Services Limited, and stealing N435.3m.

“The International Business Machines Corporation in its most recent report published in March stated that the financial and insurance sectors of Middle Eastern and African countries were faced with more cyberattacks in 2022 than other sectors in the region. The firm stated that the two sectors accounted for 44percent of incidents in 2022, which was four percentage points lower than the 48percent recorded in 2021. Hackers also prioritised attacks on professional, business and consumer services sectors during this period, with the sectors accounting for 22percent of attacks.”

She also recalled that Kaspersky Security Network said it blocked 161,272 financial threats in Nigeria in 2022.

“This is as 37percent of its users in Nigeria lost money from an incident involving digital payments, according to the firm.

“According to the firm, 97percent of its users in Nigeria lost up to $1,000 equivalent as a result of these incidents, while 3 percent of the respondents reported a loss of more than $1,000 equivalent. The firm stated that the blocked attacks were aimed at stealing financial information such as credit card numbers and login credentials and usually relied on social engineering tactics to lure victims,” she said.