New solution to ward off cyberattacks

Mobile service provider Safaricom has launched a fraud intelligence solution aimed at helping financial institutions tame rising cases of cyberattacks.

The new product will provide banks, digital lenders, micro-financiers and insurance firms with a tool that allows them to verify and authenticate mobile financial transactions done on their platforms.

"Through the years, we have developed in-house capabilities that have helped us cut down on attempted fraud incidents targeting our customers by more than 75 per cent,” said Safaricom’s Chief Financial Services Officer Sitoyo Lopokoiyit at the launch in Nairobi yesterday.

“Today, we are launching a solution that will provide these capabilities to our enterprise customers in the financial sector, empowering them to make more informed decisions when interacting with their customers in the digital space.”

The solution works across USSD, internet banking and smartphone apps whose uptake is on the rise. Once a customer attempts to log in through any of the channels, the institution will then run the customer’s phone number through the service to check against such parameters such as if a customer’s number has been recently swapped.

Institutions can then factor in the result of the check to complement internal fraud rules and to make a decision whether to approve the transaction or conduct secondary verification.

Recent industry trends indicate that cyberattacks on both financial service providers and consumers are at an all-time high as more people increasingly adopt mobile transactions.

Data from the 2019 Serianu Cybersecurity report indicates Kenya’s economy lost Sh29.5 billion to cybercrime and related activities in 2018, with banks, Saccos and government agencies topping the list of key targets.

Industry regulator, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), in another report said cyberattacks on both individuals and institutions in the last quarter of last year spiked 168 per cent. Malware attacks in particular recorded a 400 per cent increase from 1.8 million in the third quarter to nine million in the fourth quarter.