Cyber Security, ecommerce and the banks

EFSA has been discussing cybercrime aimed at e-shops with the South African Banking Risk Information Centre  (SABRIC) and as a result of those discussions has prepared a series of information statements on common signs of fraud and preventative measures to help e-shops to avoid fraud. We will be issuing these statements over the next months and will keep readers informed. Meanwhile, SABRIC has issued a Press Release following warnings by Kaspersky Lab of impending malware attacks on major banks in the sub-Saharan Africa region, allegedly organised by a Russian ‘Silence’ hacking group which has been responsible for the theft of millions of dollars globally. So far there have been no such attacks in SA and the banks have installed heavy protective measures which are constantly being updated. However, as this Newsletter has stressed, 2020 is likely to continue to experience targeted ransomware attacks against local governments and specific industries. These will be orchestrated by organised cyber-criminal gangs.

A cyber-security company, CyberInt has released CiPulse 2020, its annual report on cyber-crime trends which outlines the growing e-crime economy, the increasing prevalence of attacks in the financial services, retail and government sectors, and provides an in-depth analyses of adversarial tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) used against the different regions and industries. According to CyberInt, the financial industry is the most targeted industry worldwide, accounting for more than a third of all targeted attacks. CyberInt says banking Trojans were the most prevalent malware in 2019. It notes that attacks against financial organisations, accounting for a third of all targeted industries, vary widely in capability and sophistication.