The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and #MACRA, through the Malawi Computer Emergency Response Team (mwCert), jointly organized a Digital Financial Services (DFS) Security Clinic. The Clinic, was held in Lilongwe and focused on addressing security risks within the digital finance ecosystem,and it was organized on the sidelines of an ITU regional workshop on Cost Models for Data Services and International Internet Connectivity Cost.
The gathering aimed at assisting regulators and providers in learning about the different vulnerabilities within the DFS ecosystem; mitigating threats and performing continuous assessments on the security of DFS; and building confidence and trust in the use of digital financial services and providing a framework to manage security risks in the DFS ecosystem.
#ITU Programme Coordinator Vijay Mauree stressed that since digital financial services rely on consumers, there was need to build trust and confidence if people are to continue using such services, hence the need for the DFS Security Clinic.
#MACRA Director General Daud Elvin Suleman observed that with so many activities happening including huge financial transactions, the digital space has become an attractive market to fraudsters as such there is need to properly secure the space to protect unsuspecting consumers.
“The world is moving and as a country we must also move. We cannot stop the digitalization effort because schemas and fraudsters are coming on, we just need to up our game and we just need to be a step ahead of them.
“The more we raise the security around digital financial services, the more we raise confidence of people in the digital space, and the easier it becomes for the government digitalization agenda to really move forward,” said Suleman.
The DFS Security Clinics attracted IT security professionals and policymakers, DFS providers, and representatives from the Reserve Bank of Malawi.
