Computer Warehouse Group (CWG PLC), the leading technology Company in Africa and MAG Tech, a specialized information security and intelligence Company, recently organized an information security session in Lagos where all the decision makers charged with security in financial sector, and technology experts converged to deliberate on the new concept that will curb Cyber-attacks and fraud in the industry.
This is in a bid to reduce the level of threat and Cyber- attack in the financial sector.
The session themed, ‘Security Operations Centre (SOC) – Financial Services in the Cyber Attack Era’ created a rich avenue for the stakeholders to extensively discuss and understand the new concept, Security Operations Centre (SOC) as the ultimate information security platform required to drastically minimize the Cyber-attack and threats currently being encountered by the financial institutions.
Speaking at the session, James Agada, chief technology officer of CWG, said that CWG as a Technology Company goes beyond enabling businesses with products and solutions to concepts that will ensure 100% security of all the customers’ transactions.
According to Agada, product and product knowledge are not adequate to achieve the end result of any business solution, and hence the need for the new concept, which is centered on how to detect and react to fraudulent transactions.
Agada further expressed that 50% of the transactions in the industry are running on the servers that are being managed by CWG’s seasoned and trained engineers.
“Our aim is to ensure that these skills are internalized in Africa as information security is crucial to us and our customers” He said.
Nadav Arbel – MAG Tech’s chief technical officer, in his presentation on Darknet and Crime stated that Cyber-attack is originated from the Darknet which is the illegal part of the internet.
According to Arbel, Cyber-attack occurs when there is data leakage which may be caused by misconfiguration of a server or other sources.
He stated further that no one can run a business efficiently without being on the internet and as long as your business is connected on the internet, you will experience some form of cyber-attack and threat. Hence the solution is your ability to detect and prevent it.
“Security Operations Centre has been conceptualized for detection and prevention of darknet’s negative impact on businesses” He added.
One of the highlights of the session was a testimonial from one of the leading banks in Africa where Mag Tech has implemented a SOC.
According to the testimony, the bank was struggling with Cyber-attacks and threats until a Security Operations Center was designed and implemented.
Presently, they can monitor all the transactions on their network across the globe through the SOC concept from their office in Lagos.
The number of intra-bank and inter-bank Cyber-attacks and threats detected and prevented can also be tracked through SOC.
The testifier concluded by encouraging the other banks to have a strategic roadmap to tackle IT Risks & Security issues by looking at implementation of a standard & effective Security Operations Center.
In his words, “Any bank that wants to be in business and roll out innovative products powered by IT infrastructure must take into consideration the Security Operations Centre, as information security is very key in the financial industry”.
He further explained that the concept enables the bank to help their customers from being defrauded and the banks can jointly eliminate or maximally reduce the level of Cyber-attacks and threats in the system when all the banks are monitoring through SOC.
This SOC concept is effective and is a necessity for all the banks that want to remain in business considering the huge amount of losses banks incur as a result of cyber-attacks. “The cost of implementing SOC concept is very minimal compared to the losses through Cyber-attacks” he said.
The event was attended by almost all the banks in Nigeria, and has provided a platform for banks to share information on effective security operations centre implementations to curb fraud and enhance the growing use of the internet for banking and financial inclusion within a safe and secure framework.