Airtel Money’s parent company was reportedly hacked into leading to a loss of approximately 30 to 50 billion according to various news agencies at the end of October 2022. The attack is similar to the one the company had to grapple with in October 2020 which led to emptying of individual customers mobile wallets.
The company only issued a statement regarding the disruption of Bank to Mobile wallet transactions which were affected by the alleged attack. The service disruption did not affect Mobile to mobile transactions, however a number of online services that rely on Mobile money payments have temporarily suspended the carrier since the day of the attack..
The lack of proper communication during such incidences highlights the challenges of fighting cyber-crime in the country and creating necessary awareness critical to fighting the crime.
It is only through adequate communication of facts that customers and cyber security researchers can learn and implement best practices to avert future incidents.
Big tech companies in the country owe customers the responsibility to inform and educate and also lead in the fight against cyber-crime and fraud. Criminals should not have the leeway to act as they wish. This affects confidence in the system and derails efforts toward the universal adoption of digitization.
If a company as big as airtel can lose billions without an answer, then this defeats the confidence of customers who had a hard time convincing others to adopt these technologies for the first time.
And this is where strict supervision from the industry regulator Bank of Uganda should come in a lead. It is their mandate to see development and growth in the industry to spur economic transformation in the country.
Lastly, the Telecom and fintech companies should take this as a sign of harder times to follow. The trend is to see more cyber-crimes committed targeting these institutions. The best way to fight them is to engage the end users and researchers who in the future can help identify early indicators of compromise and hence minimize potential damage.
