Banks lose N40bn to Internet fraud – CBN

Nigerian banks lost N40bn to cyber-crimes in 2013, the Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed on Wednesday.

The Chief Information Security Officer, CBN, Mr. Taiwo Longe, made this disclosure at the first National Cyber Security Forum in Lagos. The forum was organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Speaking on the topic: ‘Ensuring information security assurance through policy framework’, Longe said cyber security had become an issue that the central bank was taking with all seriousness and thoroughness, especially in the cash-less economy regime.

He said the cash-less scheme would go live nationwide next month, adding that the CBN was not unaware of the need to collaborate with various stakeholders to ensure that banks and other players in the financial services sector ensured maximum information security.

According to him, information security is concerned with the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data regardless of the form the data takes, whether electronic, print, or otherwise.

Longe said, “Financial institutions, hospitals, telecommunication corporations and private businesses etc amass a great deal of confidential information about their customers, employees, products, research findings and financial status, among others.

“As such, there is a need for maximum security of this information that is collected, processed and stored on computers and transmitted across computer networks.

“When any of the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data is impacted, security is said to have been breached. There are various threats to information security. Some are very dangerous and disruptive; others are just a nuisance.”

The CBN chief information security officer noted that the fight against cyber-crimes and other threats to information security could only be won through a robust information security policy framework.

He said that the CBN had engaged the banks to comply with some basic currently global security standards in the management and security of customer information.