The Central Bank of Nigeria has said it will continue to strengthen its framework on cybersecurity in order to ensure the safety of the banking sector.
The CBN Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Aisha Ahmad, said this during a panel session at the International Monetary Fund/World Bank’s annual meetings.
The panel focused on experience from sub-Saharan Africa in relation to cybersecurity.
Cyberattack exposes organisations to the loss of intellectual properties and trade secret; online fraud and financial crimes, theft of personally identifiable information; financial manipulation; disruption in production or services, and reduced trust for online activities.
This is said to be awful for the expansion of financial institutions seeking wider financial inclusions for millions of unbanked Nigerians.
Ahmad described cyberattack as a business and regulatory risk issue that had the potential of disrupting the financial sector.
She said the apex bank was taking a proactive approach to ensure that threats to the financial sector were mitigated.
She said, “Cybersecurity is not an Information Technology issue; it is not an issue for chief information officers. It is a business risk issue and a regulatory risk issue.
“And because it has the potential to disrupt IT operations and financial sectors and its ability to disrupt the mandate that we have as for financial stability, it is important that central banks focus on resilience.
“We have some of these guidelines and frameworks in place. It’s about strengthening them and identifying where you need to improve regulations so that they are fit for purpose.”
She said by the first quarter of next year, the apex bank would be holding a cybersecurity summit where stakeholders such as the IMF and World Bank would be involved.
Ahmed also said a crisis management framework was being worked on by the apex bank to support the growth and stability of the banking
Source: Punch
