The panel session discussing the cooperation efforts to combat customer fraud, held within the activities of the International Technology Exhibition and Conference for the Middle East and Africa, Cairo ICT 2022, dealt with the latest developments in cyber security in light of the digital transformation currently taking place in the countries of the world.
Osama Kamal, TV personality and CEO of “Trade Fairs International”, organized the session, which focused on financial institutions and banks.
He started his speech by referring to the technological development that coincides with the development of fraud and hacking. He then directed his speech to the participants, asking: Which is faster… hackers or protection providers?
Engineer Mostafa Khedr, Director General of Fraud Control at the Central Bank of Egypt, answered by pointing out that there is an advanced level of awareness, in light of digital transformation and greater reliance on technological systems, after the events of the Corona virus and the current digital transformation.
Head of the Cyber security Sector at the National Bank of Egypt, Eng. Abeer Khedr said that during recent years, especially after the spread of the Coronavirus, banks and financial institutions have doubled their dependence on digital transformation applications in most of the services provided to bank customers.
She indicated that protection in financial institutions starts from the infrastructure and databases, up to the applications and services used by customers.
She added, “workers and employees are being trained continuously, and in parallel, awareness campaigns are being carried out for the public in all media to preserve their financial data in cooperation with the Federation of Egyptian Banks.”
Directing her speech to the youth participating in the session, she described them as the ones who have a major role to play in educating older groups, given that young people are the most able to deal more safely with technological applications.
Following that, Mostafa Khedr pointed out that usually, the hacked person is a smart person, hence the process of updating must be done periodically for the digital and security systems in institutions, especially financial institutions.
Continued Eng. Abeer Khedr, pointing out that cyber security and countering breaches are among the most important issues in which cooperation is being undertaken with the Central Bank of Egypt.
In a joyful gesture, Osama Kamal indicated – during the session – that the head of the cyber security sector at Cisco in Africa attended the two sessions, pointing out that he was one of the cadres who got a job opportunity at the beginning of his life through a previous session of the Cairo ICT exhibition.
Eng. Abeer Khader commented by saying that specialization is the most important element in obtaining a job in the fields of cyber security and digital security in banks and financial institutions.
Digital security expert, Dr. Adel Abdel Moneim responded by mentioning that there are about 3 million vacancies worldwide in the field of information security.
He also pointed out that the field of information security stems from the field of cyber security, which is a comprehensive function for all technological services such as applications, the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, and other fields that include a large number of disciplines and jobs.
Adding that there are models for employment in Europe and America, to qualify young people and graduates and to integrate specializations in the field of information security in academic and educational institutions
When asked by Osama Kamal about the penalties that are implemented in relation to fraud or digital fraud, Eng. Mustafa Khedr responded, “According to the law, the lawsuit moves when the harm is caused by the affected person or his bank, and therefore the legal basis for crimes and incidents of digital fraud is examined.”
