Nigerian banks through the Committee of Chief Information Security Officers of Nigerian Financial Institutions (CCISONFI) have unveiled a campaign targeted at curbing the rising financial scams and cyber frauds in the country.
The initiative tagged ‘NoGoFall Maga, Confam am Again’, which is being implemented in collaboration with Cybersafe Foundation and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is aimed at enlightening Nigerians on the various tactics of fraudsters and cyber criminals and how they can protect themselves against attacks.
Some of these tactics include phone calls purportedly from the victims’ banks, requesting OTP, and requesting card numbers, among others.
While noting that no bank will ever request ATM PIN or card numbers from a customer, CCISON said many Nigerians have been falling victim because they are ignorant of this fact.
This informed the need to launch the enlightenment campaign, which will be relayed across broadcast stations in Nigeria and on various social media platforms.
Reducing cybercrime
Speaking at the unveiling of the campaign in Lagos, the Chairman Committee of CCISONFI, Mr. Festus Amede, said:
- This public enlightenment program and cybersecurity awareness initiative tagged ‘NoGoFall Maga, Confam am Again’ is aimed at promoting general public awareness of cybersecurity which ultimately will dovetail into reducing cybercrime and financial fraud.
- “Its success is largely centred on the strategic partnership with the CBN, Banker’s Committee, CCISONFI (a committee formed under the guidance of the Central Bank of Nigeria and made up of the Chief Information Security officers of Nigeria Deposit Money Banks and Payment service Providers PSPs and finally Cybersate Foundation, an independent non-governmental organization registered under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
While noting that the financial industry has witnessed increased adoption of digital technology as several companies responded to the CBN’s financial inclusion initiatives, he said the rise in cybercrimes and financial frauds is making customers lose trust and confidence in the financial system.
- “This increased innovation and use of digital platforms has greatly transformed the cyber &and technology landscape thereby giving rise to new risks, especially with sustaining trust and confidence in customers’ ability to communicate and transact securely within the financial ecosystem.
- “A loss of such trust and confidence could undermine the benefits of the CBN’s financial inclusion and cashless economy or the ability to continually leverage technology as an enabler of social and economic development. Hence there is a need to constantly address the related challenges of ensuring continuous cybersecurity and data privacy,” Amede said.
Building human firewall
Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of Cybersafe Foundation, Dr. Peter Obadare, said the essence of the initiative is to build a human firewall in addition to the security firewall being built by the financial institutions to prevent fraud.
- “When we talk about cybersecurity, most of the time, we know it’s about technology, it’s about the process, and then of course, it’s about the people and I usually say that there is no amount of investment that you put in the people side that can ever go wrong. What we’re doing today, is about increasing the cybersecurity intelligence quotient of the populace, which is very important. It’s about building the human firewall.
- “Yes, we spend so much money building the technology. Yes, we standardize our processes but most of the time we find that the evil elements still find their way, especially from the customer side, hence the need to build a human firewall.
- “I think the reason why cybercriminals are succeeding is that they are leveraging the ignorance of the populace. So, I believe strongly that this initiative will go a long way to build that human firewall within Nigerian cyberspace,” Obadare said.
CCISONFI said its target for the campaign is to reach more than 40 million bank customers in the first two years of its launch and then deliver awareness content and messages in major Nigerian languages including Pidgin English.
