NSE calls for total understanding, mitigation & the risks associated with Identity Theft via internet operations

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  • L – R show Mrs. Favour  Femi-Oyewole, Head, Information Security, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Ade Bajomo, Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology, NSE and Ade Ewuosho, Head, Market Services, NSE at the Nigerian Capital Market Information Security Forum at the Exchange today.

Full Text: OPENING REMARKS AT THE 2ND NIGERIAN CAPITAL MARKET INFORMATION SECURITY FORUM ON PREVENTING IDENTITY THEFT IN THE NIGERIAN CAPITAL MARKET WHICH HELD ON MONDAY, 07 DECEMBER, 2015 AT THE STOCK EXCHANGE BUILDING, MARINA – LAGOS
BY ADE BAJOMO, Executive Director, Market Operation and Technology, NSE

 

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me welcome you to the 2nd edition of the Nigerian Capital Market Information Security Forum (NCMISF). The Nigerian Stock Exchange took the initiative to commence this forum earlier in 2015 in order to deepen awareness on information security, cyber threat and the crucial role that effective information security information systems play in ensuring that firms continue to provide reliable and secure services that endear customer confidence and patronage, whilst leveraging technology to grow their profitability.
Today, Nigeria has over 93m Internet users, is number 6 on the global league table of internet use by country and around 50% of these users access the internet via smartphones. With the economics of smartphones now looking very good (sub USD100), I would hazard a guess that all phones sold in the market by 2020 will be smart. This has a huge implication for how we live, socialize and do business.

 

This trend brings about huge opportunities for our country, its businesses and our people. However, opportunities can only be fully realised when the risks associated with them are understood and mitigated.

One of those risks is Identity Theft. With the ever-changing advances in information and technology platforms, criminals have become very adept at keeping up with — and in some cases exceeding — current best security practises.

It is estimated that the cost of identity theft related incidents globally in 2014 was between USD 5Bn to 15Bn dollars with some 17.6m people impacted in the USA alone. Globally, it is estimated that identity theft incidents rose from 5,678 in 2015 to 854,420,502. Figures are rather hard to come by at the moment for Nigeria and estimated that 1 in every 20 citizens has been a victim of identity theft but be rest assured that it is hugely on the increase from our interactions with our broker dealer firms, the CSCS and other financial services institutions.

 

The higher you earn, the more likely to be targeted used to be a trend. However, anyone can be a victim, especially in Nigeria with the huge socio-economic imbalance and highly creative and intrepid criminals.

 

A gross mistake made by senior business leaders is to think of Identity Theft as a technology issue. Far from it, this is more of a business survival issue that requires employee’s willingness and ability to accept / adhere to security best practices on a day-to-day basis to ensure that their businesses, clients and employees do not fall victim of Identity theft.

 

Identity theft can be costly too – both on businesses and individuals. The CEO of Target, the large US Retail Outlet lost his job after a huge data security breach where hackers stole 70m credit card details on the retailers systems and could consequently use these details to assume the personality of customers. It cost target USD262m to fix the issues. They were only insured for USD 92m. Closer home in Africa, we saw two CEOs and an executive of MTN lose their jobs for not deploying systems to effectively manage identity systems of their customers following a regulatory directive. The financial cost to the company was initially N1Tn (now reduced by 35%). A lack of effective identity management systems will be compromised by criminals and company executives can indeed be liable.

We therefore have a responsibility to:
a) Understand what identity theft is
b) Know how it is perpetrated
c) Take steps to mitigate and protect our businesses and self from identity theft
d) Understand how to deal with and address identity theft issues
There are about 8 types of identity theft including:
1. Financial Identity Theft
2. Driver’s License Identity Theft
3. Criminal Identity Theft
4. Social Security Identity Theft
5. Medical Identity Theft
6. Insurance Identity Theft
7. Child Identity Theft
8. Synthetic Identity Theft
Perhaps of most important in our market today are:
1. Financial Identity Theft
2. Driver’s License Identity Theft
3. Criminal Identity Theft
No doubt some of the rest will emerge as our society continues to evolve.
One poorly trained / wrongly influenced employee can impact and compromise an entire business and you as a business are only as strong as your weakest link. As a result, awareness on best practice, sharing of information and preventative steps are key in mitigating the likelihood of identity theft breaches.

To this effect, we have lined up a commendable list of speakers today to address the issue robustly and ensure that you, our participants, are better informed and can protect your businesses and self from identity theft issues.

Our speakers include:
1. Mrs Favour Remi-Oyewole – NSE Head of Information Security
2. Mr Seyi Akindeinde – CTO Digital Encode
3. Mr Olaolu Adegbite, EFCC Director of Operations
Without further ado, it is my pleasure to welcome you all again the 2nd edition of the NCMISF. This edition will continue to build on the successes of the first edition and will furnish you with the necessary insights and facts to better understand and mitigate the risks of identity theft while leveraging technology to grow your business profitably and improve your client experience. Thank you.
Thank you
Ade Bajomo
Executive Director, Market Operations & Technology


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