AccessBank chief advises on positive impacts to deter fraudulent activities - ITREALMS

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The Group Chief Information Security Officer, Access Bank Plc of the AccessBank Plc, Mrs. Favour Femi-Oyewole has advised key stakeholders including technology media in the cybersecurity industry to continuously create positive impacts to deter fraudulent activities in the banking sector, reports ITREALMS.

Mrs. Favour Femi-Oyewole of AccessBank

She gave this advice at a one-day training session with the members of the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) organised by the Committee of Chief Information Security Officers (CCISOs), Cybersafe Foundation and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Lagos at the weekend.

Mrs. Femi-Oyewole whose paper centred on "Cybersecurity for Journalists and the News Media" said that the media is part of the human firewall in the global framework to keep the cyber space safe.

"You are a part of the security shield!" she declared, stressing that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and stakeholders like IT media is a strong interface to the public who many rely on their writings to make relevant decisions.

She also called for positive impacts, noting that some of these include the first line of defence, exerting positive influence, pointing out common risks and highlighting the best practices.

On the first-line of defence, Mrs. Femi-Oyewole advised cyber security industry stakeholders in the position of authorities to beware of the threat factors both internally and externally, maintaining that the first point of contact with staff, matters.

As leaders in various spheres of life, she said, information security officers, for instance, should exert positive influences, just like any other leader by helping to propagate the positive attitude to cyber security by being informed often.

She said that by building capabilities, leaders in organisation should be able to point out observed lapses through spot on reporting thereby curtailing common risks factor.

By highlighting the best practices, she enjoined information managers to see themselves as a cyber evangelist in the media industry so to be seen as to practice what they preach.

She urged media practitioners to be aware of future trends, including but not limited to Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Computing, Internet of Things nad Fifth Generation (5G) as well as blockchain.

According to her, AI would help in deterring potential hackers with more intelligence in operations; Quantum computing utilises the power of quantum safe cryptography to mitigate threats even in future time, whereas leveraging on 5G speed and versatility to improve response time and capacity, while adopting to blockchain standards offers a level of benchmark to other crypto technology best practices.

Emerging technologies though have some threats, she maintained, have transformative powers and their adoption have increased post-pandemic banking and financial institution environment.

"They are often implemented or integrated into existing technology fabrics with varying implementation complexities," she said.

Insisting that given the pace of technological advances and infrastructure development, financial institutions are poised to mitigate the increasing systemic digital threats emerging technologies may bring about.