Why banks should do more to protect consumers, expose cybercriminals -Expert

* Wale Olaoye, GMD, Halogen Group, says most organisations underestimate imperatives around risks, health, safety of human assets

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

In view of the increasing rate of cybercriminals’ attacks on critical infrastructure of banks and other financial institutions in Nigeria, and the need to protect consumers of products and services, Mr. Wale Olaoye, Group Managing Director (GMD) of Halogen Group, a conglomerate in integrated safety and security solutions, has said “we must recognise that it is a new order.”

Mr. Olaoye, in recent interview with The Sun, stated that the world as a global village is currently enmeshed in a turmoil, and no place to take cover any more.

“It is a new day; the world is open; the boundaries are down; it is a borderless world; the world is vulnerable; the world is volatile; nobody is safe anymore,” said Olaoye.

On the transformation in the nation’s banking industry, the Halogen GMD disclosed that the comprehensive transformation journey which started about four years ago and “which had seen us embark on significant investment in building cutting-edge digital infrastructure and in-depth redesigning of our security risk management approaches, seem to have pre-emptively prepared us at Halogen group for stronger and quicker response to exigencies of COVID 19 disruptions.”

According to him, Halogen Group has developed a business segment assessment framework that is comprehensive, which he said “fits any best practice anywhere in the world.”

On the need for the stakeholders to enhance banks’ security apparatus, he said “most of the banks have invested in cyber security, though it is not at equal level, some more than the others.

“But there are minimum standards. But is it adequate? It may not be adequate for most of them in the new post-COVID 19 dispensation.”

However, he stated that the key thing in crime triangle is that it is still man that is at the other end to ensure that what to be done is being done.

“So, man is still at the heart of mitigating; man is part of the equation… a lot still needs to be done on enhancement scale. Do we have a constant data of various ways that people have been breached?

“The banks need to invest more in enhancement in exposing ways and means at which people are coming to make attempts to access people’s accounts,” Olaoye said.

He added that his company has looked at everything that confronts our health, security and safety and the issues that COVID 19 has thrown up into seven clear headings.

And for any organisation that wants to go back (to work) now, he maintained that there has to be solid understanding of what regulatory requirements of compliance for any executive that wants to go back to work.

In terms of regulatory considerations for company executives, he noted that there are several Acts, including the Nigeria Data Protection and Services Regulations Law.

“Business leaders, especially their security risk responsible officers need to understand what that Act says; and, of course, the NCDC (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control) guidelines that are also given,” he stated.

He added that security, managing people’s risks has got to come to the fore, saying, “without the people, no business or company can exist.

“Most organisations are underestimating the imperatives around the risks, health, safety of their human capital assets and what it means for their people as they return to work.”

As regards cybercrime, the company executive stressed that crimes have moved from physical to virtual space.

“Therefore, cybercrime is going to increase significantly. So, there is a desire for criminally minded people to come to that domain because there would be easy target there,” he said.