Cyber breaches against the financial system is high priority, Experts say

Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS), a regional leader in banking and finance education and training, hosted a webinar to assess the current cybersecurity challenges that might face the financial institutions and services in the UAE and the importance of having proactive steps to safeguard businesses from cyberattacks.

The virtual session titled ‘The Cybersecurity Challenges and the Protection of the Digital Revolution’ is part of the EIBFS conversational learning initiative, which aims to host periodic talks to cover timely banking and finance-related subjects as part of its community outreach goals.

The webinar drew over 100 participants and a panel of expert speakers including Praveen Vackayil, Senior Manager Digital Trust at PwC (Middle East), Sheikh Shadab Nawaz, Director of KPMG Lower Gulf Limited, Jayakaran Paul, SVP & Head of Cyber Security & IAM at FAB, and was moderated by Chandran S, Director of Cyberfort Digisec Solutions, India.

During the session, the speakers shed the light on the challenges that have arisen due to the ongoing digital revolution characterised by the emergence of cutting-edge technologies such as e-government, e-commerce, blockchains, mobile payments services, online banking and cloud computing, among others.

Experts also discussed why Cyber security threats have been ranked among the top risks facing the world. Saying that intrusions, data breaches, ransomware, defacement, phishing and fraud proliferate, as organisations become more and more reliant on technology causing a surge in cyberattacks exposure. Advising businesses to be more proactive in implementing and testing their cyber defences.

Commenting on the session, Jamal Al Jassmi, General Manager of EIBFS, said,

"Through this thought-provoking webinar, we aim to assist financial services participants in understanding and taking proactive steps to strengthen their cybersecurity in line with the UAE government strategies and initiatives that aim to create a secure and robust cyberinfrastructure to empower both individuals and businesses in the country.

"Our webinar has also shed light on the cybersecurity challenges the financial service providers currently face and ways in which they can overcome them. Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility and we at EIBFS offer a number of programs that discuss the cyber security risks in the banking sector from intermediate to more specialised courses. We hope that our patrons benefit from the important insights that were shared in the session."

News Source: Emirates News Agency