Kaspersky Lab concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) in October 2017 and plans to renew the MOU for a further year, following its success.

The MOU has seen Kaspersky Lab successfully support SABRIC members to enhance much needed skilled capacity within the banking sector through specialised training, for the purpose of combatting cybercrime and to contribute in creating cybersecurity resilience in South Africa.

SABRIC is a non-profit organisation, formed by four of the major banks in South Africa, to support the banking sector (along with cash in transit companies) in combatting the increasing threat of organised bank-related cybercrimes. SABRIC’s aim is to be Africa’s trusted financial crime risk information centre leveraging on strategic partnerships.

Kalyani Pillay, CEO at SABRIC, says: “The advent of digital technology has seen cybercrime increase at an alarming rate, as it is virtual in nature, enabling it to transcend time and physical proximity. In addition, the convenience and anonymity of the internet makes it easy for criminals to perpetrate these crimes. Industry collaboration is therefore a critical component in the fight against organised cybercrime in the financial services space, and we therefore welcomed the opportunity to partner with Kaspersky Lab – given their immense expertise in global cybersecurity and deep threat intelligence.”

Globally, Kaspersky Lab’s anti-phishing technologies¹ prevented over 107-million attempts to visit phishing pages in Q2 2018 and 35,7% of these were related to financial services – targeting customers through fake banking or payment pages.

Pillay adds: “This global statistic indicates just how serious cybercrime is but the creation of solid partnerships with key role players, like Kaspersky Lab, will make us a formidable force in the fight against cyber criminals.”

The MOU has seen Kaspersky Lab provide specialised cybersecurity training to security professionals in five of South Africa’s top banks which successfully covered key areas to equip cybersecurity professionals, in the areas of Malware Analysis, Reverse Engineering and Incident Response, to advance their IT security strategies.

Ben Gaum, enterprise lead at Kaspersky Lab Africa, comments: “Today, no industry can operate optimally without technology. Yet this dependence on IT means that cyberthreats are a growing global problem and as such, expertise in IT security has become critically important. Kaspersky Lab understands the world’s cyberthreat landscape and our experts possess immense knowledge and experience in the detection and protection against growing threats. Transferring these skills is critical in the fight against cybercrime. This MOU has helped us to achieve just this, and we hope to continue working with SABRIC in this regard.”

The success of this training partnership resulted in recognition from the wider financial services industry locally, and Kaspersky Lab are currently exploring the possibility of including Investment Firms and Asset Managers into the scope of future events. This will also see the delivery of training on Digital Forensics, as well as other advanced training initiatives.

“IT security today is a constant process that requires addressing threats holistically. Through incorporating the wider financial services space into this training partnership, we can reach and train a wider pool of IT security professionals, sharing insights into developing and executing a true tailored cybersecurity approach. Together, we will effectively work towards minimising cybercrimes in this industry, which is so critical to the economy,” concludes Gaum.