The CBN Governor was recently represented by his Deputy, Operations, CBN, Mr. Tunde Lemo at the 4th Annual Payment Systems and Fraud Conference organised by the Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN) in Lagos. At the key note address the Governor spoke about the menace of E-Payment fraud and how it is gradually becoming the largest earner for organised crime in Nigeria and abroad. However, a key portion of the speech was when he referred to E-Payment fraud as an “Hydra Head Monster”. According to him,
It is fast becoming an hydra headed monster ,which has become highly commercialised and also the largest revenue generation for organised crime globally’. The menace of fraud threat had assumed a frightening dimension globally overtaking drug trafficking as the largest revenue earning organised crime not only in Nigeria but globally. While I am excited by progress made in Nigeria in combatting the menace, especially success made with Chip+PIN technology and two-factor authentication, recent information gives course for concern.
Recently, I learnt that such threats as Man-in-the-Browser (MITB) attacks, which I learnt is capable of defying such tested countermeasures as SSL/PKI two/three factor authentication and One Time Password once thought to be the Holy Grail antidote to electronic payments and/or online banking fraud threats. We used to derive comfort that when transacting online over an https-based website, we were secured, but now what was hitherto a forte for online financial services and e-commerce has been corrupted with https based attack.”
Since the Governor thinks E-Payment fraud is an hydra headed monster which of the heads do we need to cut first and how does this affect the Cash-less policy??
