Ecobank Zambia is investing more than $1 million in the upgrade of a core banking software application, Flexcube, to help combat fraud and cyber crime.
Flexcube is Oracle Corporation's banking automation software that enables financial institutions to provide a more efficient service to customers.
The bank's investment in the software upgrade comes in the wake of increasing cyber crime in Zambia and the southern African region.
The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), which is responsible for fighting fraud and money laundering, has warned that Internet fraud has become rampant, and that people needed to guard against it.
The changeover to Flexcube comes into effect on 31 October, according to Charity Lumpa, Ecobank Zambia MD, speaking at a media briefing.
Last year, many Zambian banks experienced increased fraud and cyber crime, which resulted in the loss of large sums of customer money. Several banks are moving to provide Internet banking and electronic commerce services, but cyber crime targeting the financial sector is threatening to derail the rollout of these services.
“The technology and telecommunications platform is supported by three data centres - in Accra, Lome and London - which provide real-time disaster recovery capabilities,” said Lumpa.
Currently, very few banks in Zambia that provide Internet services are able to offer security software to curb cyber security attacks. Phishing attacks aimed at bank customers feature unsolicited messages instructing users to follow a link to confirm their account information, as a way for criminals to obtain passwords and user identities.
Cyber criminals have also used mobile phone-based tricks, in which subscribers receive fake messages informing them that they have won money, and are asked to transfer a certain amount via their phones as a “processing fee”.
Zambia, like many other countries in Africa, is experiencing an explosion of mobile money services, as banks and mobile phone service providers compete for customers who would otherwise not have access to bank accounts. This has increased phishing attacks on unsuspecting consumers, and has compelled Ecobank to move to Flexcube in a bid to protect its clients.
While Zambia has enacted the Computer Misuse and Crimes Law, which could see convicted hackers being sent to prison for up to 25 years, no one has been convicted for cyber crime in the country since the law was enacted seven years ago.
Last year, the Zambian government introduced the National Policy Framework on Cyber Crime, a package of laws that criminalises cyber security activities that are not covered in the National Information and Communication Technology Policy and computer misuse law.
The Zambian government has also approved a global cyber security protocol that is aimed at protecting Internet users.
However, communication experts warn that Zambia lacks the skills, equipment and organisational ability to fight cyber crime.
Generally, ignorance has been cited as the reason many people in Zambia fall prey to online scams, as the criminals' Web sites are built to entice people and make them disclose even intimate details.
The Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), the country's telecoms sector regulator, has been engaged in a rigorous campaign to educate consumers about cyber crime.
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