AfricaCom 2018 is taking place this week which means some of the top organisations on the continent will be descending on Cape Town to discuss the current technology landscape and look to how things can be improved.
One organisation with a focus on cybersecurity is Kaspersky Lab, and they will be showcasing some of their fraud prevention solutions at the week-long conference.
In order to highlight the need for more robust cybersecurity solutions, Kaspersky recently conducted a survey that focused on the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region, and the insights for South Africa in particular make for interesting reading.
More specifically the report found that 86 percent of South Africans make regular use of online banking services and platforms, which is higher than the numbers for the Middle East and Turkey.
While this points to a strong local uptake of such technologies, the report also adds that South Africans are still quite skeptical of online banking.
“South African online bankers were the highest targeted in hacking attempts in the region, at 18%. Banking is just one of the sectors that are challenged by cybercrimes as consumers become more connected and service provider networks grow,” says Tim Ayling, global head of fraud prevention solutions at Kaspersky Lab.
“Fraud losses are now in the tens of billions of dollars globally, where it has been reported that South African credit card fraud alone increased to R436 million in 2017. Though some can argue that technology changes are partially to blame for this, consumers also seem very happy to share personal information online, without any thought on how this can be used for bad,” adds Ayling.
A possible solution to combat this growing issue could lie with machine learning, with Kaspersky Lab recently putting it to use in their latest fraud prevention offerings. In particular Kaspersky Lab is using machine learning in four precise ways when tackling fraud.
The first is client-less malware protection, which checks if a customer’s machine or device is infected with malware. Next is assisting in determining the legitimacy of sessions with the help of behavioural biometrics to see how users interact with mobile devices. Then there’s behavioural analysis, which looks at what the user clicks when creating a “normal behaviour” profile. Lastly, device and environment analysis examines areas which may be known for being “involved in fraud” like global device and location reputation.
“As African economies continue to emerge and grow, there have to be lessons that must be applied. Firstly, to succeed, information is treasure that businesses cannot do without, so be aware of the risks this information faces. Be ready to protect and nurture that data – the future depends on it,” concludes Ayling.
All of these new technologies will be on show in Cape Town for AfricaCom 2018 this week, where Kaspersky Lab aims to educate those in the industry about the threat that fraud poses.