CBN Promises Strong Regulatory Framework Against Cyber Risk.

BARBARA BAKO, Abuja.

The Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability, Central Bank of Nigeria, Aisha Ahmad on Thursday said the apex bank would strengthen regulatory framework to put cyber crimes under check.

Aisha spoke at a Cyber Security conference in Abuja aimed at building cyber resilience for crimes done with the help of technology. According to Ahmad, CBN would show it’s commitment by encouraging regulated institution to build realistic vulnerability testing system for contingency planning.

She said, “There is no gain saying the fact that automation and innovation has impacted on all facet of human endeavours. “Technology is transforming the way we learn communicate and conduct commercial event and the way we experience payment also innovation such as robotic and artificial intelligence and block chains has potential for further disruptions.

“These inconveniences from modern technology has also ushered in complex security challenges some of these range from identity and intellectual property theft, emails spamming, virus dissemination, sophisticated hacking and theft by digital crime syndicate.

She said, expectedly this development has led to significant rise in cyber crimes. “The central strategic and financial survey estimate this cost to be about $600bn in 2017, this is up by 20 per cent from the 2014 figures.

“Financial sector is particularly vulnerable given the important role it plays in financial intermediation and given that we are in a very connected commercial system. “The IMF estimates that the global annual losses for banks for cyber attacks may be as close to 9 per cent of banks annual net income,” she added.

The Director Information Technology Department, Mr. John Ayoh said the interest shown by youth in IT has made it imperative for the apex bank to safeguard the financial sector against cyber attack.

He said, “We have a youth population that is IT savvy and you need to ensure that you have the right resilient system to ensure that any attack can be detected quickly and we can respond appropriately.”