CBN tasks customers to monitor their accounts against Cyber fraud

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has urged customers to monitor their accounts with Banks regularly and report unusual activities and balance to their banks in order to prevent any cyber fraud.

CBN’s Director of Banking Supervision Department, Hassan Bello, gave the charge while speaking at the First Bank of Nigeria Information Security webinar, convened to enlighten the public on essential ways to protect their information against unauthorised access, disruptions, monitoring and alteration.

Speaking on “The role of CBN in Cybersecurity and cyber fraud prevention in deposit money banks’’, Bello advised customers to avoid sharing personal information with unknown persons or businesses. “Be aware that your bank will never ask for your information online or via telephone.

Bello represented by Dr Adetona Adedeji, said that the impact of fraud on customers include loss of confidence in the financial system; monetary loss and negative perception of the bank’s security system.

He said that some of the methods used to get customers information to perpetrate fraud include phishing, vishing, smashing, pharming, spoofing and social engineering.

“Implementing effective cybersecurity measures is particularly challenging today because there are several devices out there and attackers are becoming more innovative,” Bello said.

“Any offer asking you to supply your confidential details like card numbers and password online is a scam,” Bello said. He assured that the CBN would continue to collaborate with the banks to address the increasing threats from cyber-attacks with the aim of improving their cybersecurity resilience whilst managing cyber risks.

According to him, cyberattacks were usually aimed at accessing, changing or destroying sensitive information; extorting money from users or interrupting normal business processes, and called for enhanced security measures on all electronic delivery channels to minimise the loss of customers’ funds.

Earlier in his own remark, Harrison Nnaji, FirstBank Head Information Security Operations called on customers not to share sensitive and personal data with third parties.