Sara Khamis Al Khelaifi (left), Head of Cyber Security, Financial Market Infrastructure Oversight, QCB
DOHA: Top bankers and technology experts yesterday stated that Qatar’s banking and finance sector is in the race to mitigate influx of online security concerns. Addressing the opening session of The 5th Annual Information Security Conference for the Financial Sector, organised by Qatar Central Bank (QCB), three top Qatari experts said the information security is facing serious challenges.
Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming people’s daily lives. While they offer exciting opportunities, the increased digitization and hyper-connection presents also risks to the businesses, such as increasing vulnerability to cyber attacks, said Ali Rashid Al Mohannadi, Executive General Manager and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at QNB.
Citing the data released by World Economic Forum early this year, Ali Rashid said worldwide losses from cyber attacks approached $1trillion, with the financial services industry and banks being consistent targets.
Cyber incidents do not merely cause direct cost through significant financial losses, impact on interconnectivity and economic activity. They also imply indirect costs, such as loss of trust and reputation which can be even more significant. An analysis of 419 companies in 13 countries, has established that average cost of a data breach is $3.62m. Saks Fifth Avenue, Best Buy, Sears, Kmart, Delta, British Airways are some of the high profile names that were all victims of cyber related data breaches in 2018, he said.
The pace with which cybercriminals develop new ways of compromising systems and gaining access to valuable bank and customer information is accelerating rapidly. The banking industry is constantly on the backfoot, racing to mitigate risks against an endless influx of new online security concerns. Most recently, the industry has been witnessing attacks with a focus on interbank transfers, card processing, ATM management, e-banking, and payment gateways. The cumulative effect of these cyber-attacks ultimately undermines the confidence in the digital future, he said.
“The need to develop comprehensive cyber security programmes is, therefore, becoming, internationally and in the region a top priority for banks and vital to long-term business success. These programmes require besides leadership and rigorous execution stronger governance, risk and compliance to standards. Great progress has been made by regulators, authorities and participants of the financial services and banking sector jointly cooperating on this. However, there is still much room for improvement and work ahead,” the QNB COO said.
At QNB, Ali Rashid added, cyber security matters are taken extremely seriously and we constantly review our controls and enhance our investment in tools and processes. While cybersecurity used to be an IT topic, it has become a permanent C-suite agenda item. “We encourage our employees to work with us on tackling this critical matter which enables us to generate value for the benefit of our business and customers in a secure, safe, well governed and risk controlled environment,”, he added.
Sara Khamis Al Khelaifi, Head of Cyber Security, Financial Market Infrastructure Oversight, Qatar Central Bank (QCB) spoke about QCB’s initiatives in addressing the cyber security challenges. In 2009, the QCB entered into a deal with the then ICTQatar and other stakeholders to establish the financial market infrastructure in line with the central bank’s digital transformation plans.
“Currently, QCB is focusing its cyber security plans on six key domains, which is a huge task. The central bank has to put in place guidelines for the dynamic operations..With criminals practicing adept methods, we need to modernise the system through advanced tools like cloud computing. QCB is outsourcing some services and is also developing certain key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs are very important to mitigate risks. Sara said the QCB has lined up a four-year plan with a series of plans including in the R&D and risk mitigation plans.
Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani, Chief Business Officer, Ooredoo said ‘cyber security’ plays a big role in the economy of the country and plays a critical role in the banking sector. Ooredoo is continuing its efforts to integrate the system in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030.
