SPECIAL REPORT: BANKING SECURITY
Banking security Trends and technology in Covid-19 times and beyond
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it new challenges for the global banking industry, not least of all an uptick in virus-related cybercrime.
“C
ovid-19 scams have become a huge global problem almost overnight,” says Susan Potgieter, acting CEO of SABRIC (South African Banking Risk Information Centre). “Cybercriminals are exploiting the spread of coronavirus for their own gain using “coronamania” panic to spread scams. Coronavirus scams leverage off people’s concerns for their health and safety using social engineering. Spoofed emails offer products such as masks, or fake offerings of vaccines, with links to phishing websites. Because the emails appear to
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come from reputable companies, people are manipulated into clicking on links or providing personal information, which then ends up in the hands of cybercriminals.” Cybercriminals are also using SMS phishing, more commonly known as Smishing, to trick victims into clicking on links offering information about coronavirus outbreaks in their areas, she continues. The end goal of the criminal is to steal people’s credentials and details of their bank accounts so that they can impersonate the victim and steal their money. Some of these spoofed emails look incredibly realistic,
which makes it difficult to identify them as fakes.” There is also “phishing”, where they send emails to victims purporting to be from the bank or a legitimate service provider. The email requests the victim to click on a link that then asks them for their PINs or passwords. Potgieter says further that prior to lockdown, the theft of mobile phones, while not a new phenomenon, was also escalating. “People’s personal and confidential information is a valuable commodity for criminals and it’s often
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