Cybersecurity
Safaricom, in partnership with various stakeholders including CloudFlare and NetScout, has launched the 2024 Safaricom Cybersecurity Summit, aimed at securing innovation and enhance the unstoppable growth of the digital economy.
Speaking during the launch held on Wednesday in Nairobi, Safaricom Chief Corporate Security Officer Nicholas Mulila stated that one of the greatest issues facing Kenyans is that of financial services, adding that it would be one of the key areas of discussion in the two-day summit.
He noted that for one to receive financial services, one has to provide their personal information which could either be used for innovation or for cyber-attacks. “As we sit here, we should think how we could make more money from such innovations,” he challenged.
In his remarks, the SISA Information Security Company Vice President (VP) of Business EMEA Ramakrishna Balagopa mentioned that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the key factors in securing innovation and growth, especially in digital payment, despite some of its flaws.
Safaricom Chief Corporate Security Officer Nicholas Mulila addresses guests during the launch of the 2024 Safaricom Cybersecurity Summit. The event, launched in Nairobi on Wednesday, October 30, 2024, seeks to secure innovation and enhance the unstoppable growth of the digital economy.
“Technological and regulatory advancements are driving digital payments towards a projected market value of USD 24.31 trillion by 2030,” said Balagopa. The SISA VP further revealed that with the advancement of digital payments, cyber threats have escalated, with the finance sector being the main target for cyberattacks.
“Each day, a cyber-attack is launched every 39 seconds. Driven by AI, cybercrime is poised to inflict staggering losses, escalating from USD 9.5 trillion in 2024 to a projected USD 23 trillion by 2027,” he compounded. In terms of AI-driven social engineering, Balagopa noted that attacks enhanced by AI through sophisticated linguistic techniques have soared by 135 percent with 3000 percent incidents of deep-fake technology.
He also brought to light the emergence of a polymorphic malware that is capable of generating itself through subscription-based malware like a fraud General Purpose Technology (GPT). “The malware does a dynamic behaviour of analysis of the environment then mutates on its own for use in targeted attacks,” explained Balagopa.
In terms of cyber security, he cited data specification as one of the biggest challenges faced by security leaders since it is difficult to trace the source of data. “Cyber security professionals need to improve the cyber security strategies that are being implemented in our organizations,” urged the VP.
He called for the development of a regulatory framework that would enable various stakeholders to understand more about AI as well as how it could serve as a security tool for cyber solutions and data protection.