As the widespread adoption of technological advancement permeates the Nigerian finance ecosystem, so have cyber threats continued to evolve. A recent survey by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that Nigerian banks average a sum of ₦14 billion in losses to cyberfraud.
Many of those cases have been increasingly associated with internal abuse by bank staff according to findings by the NDIC. A staff of such an organization is usually targeted and grants the attackers an easier rite of passage. This year alone, six separate high-profile electronic bank frauds were attempted including an attempt on a Federal Account, as reported by the BusinessDay Online News platform.
The CBN believes the BDC’s have been a major facilitator of these illegal transactions which formed part of the many reasons a tight leash was recently enacted to prevent the illicit flow of currency.
In the light of these developments, NIBSS is pushing for a well-integrated and full-circle strategy to combat such high-scale technology espionage that at the moment seems to escape the claws of the existing parastatals that defend public interests.