E-Financial
Fight Against eFraud Demands ‘Hardened’ Technology Platforms- Isiavwe
Technology platforms must be hardened with layered security; encryption and tokenization to ensure that the payments systems are safe, said David Isiavwe, President, Information Security Society of Africa Nigeria (ISSAN), adding that organizations must have adequate firewalls and end-point security to ensure enterprise wide protection.
The global economy loses USD455Bn annually. Juniper research recently predicted that the rapid digitization of consumers’ lives and enterprise records will increase the cost of data breaches astronomically to $2.1 trillion globally by 2019, increasing to almost four times the estimated cost of breaches in 2015.
Isiavwe made the remark during his presentation titled: Addressing ePayment Fraud: Exploiting the Technology, at the 7th Annual Payment Systems & Fraud Conference 2016 organised by E-PPAN in Lagos on Tuesday, stressing that frauds are expected to increase – “as cyber criminals will follow the money in an integrated manner onto the ePayments space”.
He warned delegates at the conference that fraudsters constantly rehash old fraud schemes with a little variation in their modus operandi to carry out their attacks on unsuspecting users, with the results leading to surge in Card Skimming; Phishing Sites; DDoS attacks; Ransomeware; Third Party Payment Application Compromise; Rogue Mobile Applications and System Abuse by Rogue Merchants.
He listed current disturbing issues with regards efrauds in the ecosystem to include: “On Friday 21st October, a DDoS attack on Dyn Inc, an internet domain directory, took major sites like Amazon, Twitter, Netflix and Paypal offline. New World Hackers have claimed responsibility for the attack which they said was in the magnitude of 1.2 terabits per second, which is double the strength of the attack which took down kerbsonsecurity.com last month;
“In an essay titled ‘Someone Is Learning How to Take Down the Internet,’ security expert Bruce Schneier said last month that major internet infrastructure companies were seeing a series of worrying denial-of-service attacks. He said, ‘Someone is extensively testing the core defensive capabilities of the companies that provide critical internet services,’ and “in Q2 2016, attacks continued to become more frequent, persistent, and complex”’.
He said that hence mobile has become the primary means of internet access for the majority of Nigerians online as confirmed in a GSMA ‘The Mobile Economy Africa 2016 report, ‘the number of mobile internet subscribers tripled in the last five years to 300 million by the end of 2015, with an additional 250 million expected by 2020; the use of mobile applications, SMS, USSD and most recently, QR codes for transactions have become common place in the Nigerian epayment space, therefore, “securing the technology is imperative to ensure the continued growth of the use of mobile. The service providers have to ensure end to end encryption of data and more reliable and user friendly authentication”
The ISSAN President said, “With the increase in the use of mobile devices in the ePayment space, there has been an increase in the proliferation of malware targeting smart phones
According to Ars Technica Google Play was recently found to be hosting more than 400 apps that turned infected phones into listening posts that could siphon sensitive data out of the protected networks they connected to’. According to Fortune.com ‘For a ten week period, Bit9 + Carbon Black researchers analyzed over 1,400 malware samples that targeted the Apple operating system.
“They found that 948 of the samples appeared in 2015 compared to 180 samples that were traced back to 2010 through 2014.’ A recent report on iOS malware attacks by the security firm Bit9 + Carbon Black found that more malware affected iOS devices in 2015 than the previous five years combined. Bringing this all home, we need to develop capabilities to identity and if possible block the spread of identified malware. Encryption, Tokenization and Smart authentication need to be employed in the development and deployment of our offerings in the ePayment space”.
According to him, resilient systems have to be deployed for ePayment transaction processing to achieve 99.99% uptime, as these include call center technology as well as intelligent fraud detection and prevention systems to accurately analyze customer behavior and spending patterns with minimal false positives.
Referring to ‘Digital Payment Strategies: Online, Mobile & Contactless 2014-2019 Report’ by Juniper Research, he said that financial industry expects activities in the ePayments space to grow significantly in the next few years as new products are expected to be developed. Indeed, the annual transaction value of online and mobile payments is predicted to hit $4.7 trillion by 2019.
“Experts have also predicted that traditional banks (as we know them today) may not be alive in the next 20 years as the ePayments space would revolutionize banking and take over the financial services space”.
To this end, Isiavwe called for increased smart systems in place for continuous monitoring and incident prevention, detection as well as swift response mechanisms to provide round the clock protection.
“The key is to leverage on technology to ensure that the e-business platforms are safe, reliable and always available to the average consumer”.
Earlier, Onajite Regha, CEO of E-PPAN, said that the risk of e-payments fraud are real and multiplying daily in the country as consumers’ preference continue to shift toward e-payment options for daily transactions activities.
She added that the annual payment systems and fraud conference is designed to be a veritable rallying ground, for all stakeholders in the e-payment value chain to deliberate on payment systems and fraud knowledge.
The annual event is attended by senior level executives across industries such as banking & finance, telecommunication, judiciary, government agencies, healthcare, retail, SMEs and others, who network and brainstorm on the latest trends in technology innovations in electronic payment and learn winning strategies to manage risks and prevent fraud.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has assured Nigerians that the ongoing banking sector recapitalisation exercise will not affect customer deposits, insisting that the financial system remains stable and fully secure.
The apex bank gave the reassurance amid growing public anxiety and misinformation ahead of the March 31, 2026, deadline set for banks to meet new capital requirements.
In a series of advisories issued via its official communication channels, the CBN emphasised that the deadline applies strictly to banks and not to customers, stressing that there is no cause for panic.
“The deadline is a timeline for banks, not customers,” the bank stated, adding that routine banking activities would continue without disruption.
Addressing widespread fears over the safety of deposits, the CBN said all customer funds remain protected, urging Nigerians not to engage in panic withdrawals or close their accounts.
“Your accounts and funds are unaffected. Banking products and services continue as normal,” the bank said, reiterating that recapitalisation is designed to strengthen, not weaken, financial institutions.
The regulator further dismissed claims circulating on social media suggesting that banks could freeze accounts as part of the exercise, describing such reports as false and misleading.
“No, this is false. Banks will not freeze customer accounts. Please ignore unverified social media rumours,” the CBN said.
The recapitalisation programme, according to the apex bank, is a routine regulatory measure aimed at increasing banks’ capital base to enhance resilience, improve risk absorption capacity, and position the sector to better support economic growth.
On concerns that recapitalisation could lead to higher banking charges or reduced access to services, the CBN maintained that there would be no adverse impact on customers.
Federal government has announced that it is ramping up efforts with the 36 state governments to participate in the $500 million World Bank-assisted loan facility under the HOPE Governance Programme.
This was disclosed in a statement on Thursday by Joe Mutah, spokesperson for the scheme.
Commenting on the program, Dr Deborah Odoh, permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, stated that the ministry is collaborating closely with the Federal Ministry of Finance to ensure that all 36 states of the Federation sign the Subsidiary Loan Agreement that would enable them to participate in and benefit from the World Bank-assisted HOPE Governance Program.
Odoh made these remarks in Abuja on Wednesday when she received the HOPE Governance Team from the World Bank on a courtesy visit to her office.
“We have been strategizing with the Federal Ministry of Finance with the involvement of our Honourable Minister Sen. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu. We will put in extra efforts to make it happen even faster given the time constraints. We have a timeline drawn up recently to achieve this,” she said.
The permanent secretary pledged to provide all the necessary institutional support to ensure that HOPE Governance delivers significant impact across the country.
“I’m glad we are having this meeting, which is long overdue, and certainly we are here all the time. We expect to see more tangible results and impact shortly,” she said.
Ikechukwu Nweje, leader, World Bank Task Team, HOPE Governance Programme, had earlier appealed to the permanent secretary to utilize all available channels within the Ministry to engage state governments and secure the signing of the Agreement, thereby enabling them to access funds under the Program upon verification of the Disbursement-Linked Results.
“However you can help us to fast track these processes, this will really be appreciated to get this program up and running in terms of disbursement,” he said.
He stressed that governance remains a key challenge to improved service delivery in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors, which is why the federal government, in collaboration with the World Bank, has initiated the HOPE Governance Program to address the issue.
“If the governance part fails, we will continue to have the same problems we are having on the sectoral side. That is why the ministers prioritized governance because they found out that governance is the issue in the two sectors that will help to unlock the ability to deliver results,” he stated.
Earlier, Dr. Assad Hassan, national coordinator of the HOPE Governance Programme, stated that the meeting was convened with the World Bank to apprise the Permanent Secretary of the milestones recorded and the challenges encountered in the implementation of the program so far.
MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank has introduced a refreshed mobile banking experience designed to make purchasing airtime and data more convenient and straightforward for customers.
As part of the rollout, customers will enjoy added value on their transactions. Airtime purchases on the Glo network come with a 100 percent bonus, while data purchases attract a 10 percent bonus, giving users amazing rewards on each purchase.
With this revamp, the app is now much easier to use, especially for airtime purchases. From selecting accounts to choosing amounts, the process is more seamless, with clearer options and fewer steps. Data plans are now neatly organized into categories such as daily, weekly, and monthly, making it easier for users to find what they need without endless scrolling.
Beyond the improved layout, customers now have more flexibility in how they recharge. Lower airtime denominations have been introduced, giving users the freedom to choose amounts that better suit their needs, while navigation has been adjusted to be quicker and more intuitive.
Speaking on the update, the bank’s Head of Business, Tajudeen Omokhide, explained that the goal is to make payments as simple and seamless as possible. According to him, customers expect speed, clarity, and affordability, and these improvements are part of the bank’s ongoing effort to meet those expectations. He also encouraged both existing and new users to get the latest version of the app.
These updates are a testament to MoneyMaster’s broader mission of developing practical, relevant products for everyday life. Promoted by Globacom and licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the bank offers mobile wallets, savings accounts, individual current accounts, and business banking services.
MoneyMaster continues to position itself as a flexible, customer-centric platform, enabling over 4,000 individual and business billers to manage payments, access financial services, and stay connected with ease.
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