Manama: The implementation of a latest technology and automation cam help the Ilsamic banking industry to cope with the growth threats of cyber security.
This came as the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions (CIBAFI), the global umbrella of Islamic financial institutions, convened a webinar on “Cybersecurity: A Rising Risk with Important Implications on the Financial Sector’s Resilience”. The webinar was held in collaboration with Darktrace.
CIBAFI’s Global Islamic Banker’s Survey (GIBS) Report, reported on banks’ growing concerns over Cyber security risk due to the movement towards digitalization and automation in the Islamic banking industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has further advanced this digital transformation as banks adopted financial technologies to meet the increasing demand for online products and services. Moreover, banks are facing some operational challenges that contributed to an increased Cyber security risk, for example, business execution and system failures as well as business disruption due to changes in employee working arrangements.
These facts encouraged CIBAFI to organize this webinar with Darktrace which gathered financial services industry and subject matter experts from different countries. The webinar discussed the major threats and the main factors that have posed serious challenges to the Cyber security in digital banking sector.
Dr. Abdelilah Belatik, CIBAFI Secretary General, opened the webinar by highlighting how the continuous implementation of technology in various aspects of the financial institutions’ operations has also heightened the risk of cyber security. The Secretary General also stressed on CIBAFI’s commitment to raise awareness on these increasingly important aspects of the industry by continuously delivering a series of events, issuing publications and establishing the CIBAFI Innovation and Technology Group.
The first session witnessed a presentation from Darktrace on different useful cases on how digital acceleration has reshaped the threat landscape; what are the major cybersecurity challenges faced by financial institutions; and the different approaches to security in finance.
The webinar concluded with a panel session on “Neutralizing Cyber-attacks: Strategies, Measures, and Trend” where Darktrace, along with other industry experts examined the growing in speed, sophistication, and scale of cyber-attacks. With offensive Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the horizon, the financial services sector will continue to be challenged to protect sensitive data and systems. As threats emerge, it is clear that a new approach to cyber security is needed. Therefore, this interactive panel session has witnessed an experience sharing on the current strategies and approaches to counter cyber-attacks by financial institutions and studied their weaknesses to identify new approaches for better resilience against cyber-attacks.
The session witnessed an interactive dialogue among the panelists were Mirza Asrar Baig, Founder and CEO, EDX Labs; Roly Stride, Regional Director for Middle East and Africa at Darktrace; and Murat Gökten, Head of Enterprise Architecture, AlbarakaTech Global. The discussion was moderated by Rachid Ettaai, Senior Research Analyst, CIBAFI.
The CIBAFI initiative aims to raise awareness and support sustainability and innovation within the Islamic finance services industry (IFSI). CIBAFI will continue providing specific activities and initiatives which promote sustainability best practices and facilitate cooperation between members and institutions of common interest.
