Zambia to host Southern Africa Banking ICT summit

Africa Cyber Security Strategic Alliance Manager Sammy Kioko

Zambia will on April 30th host the Southern Africa Banking and Information communication Technology (ICT) summit.

Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka today, Africa Cyber Security Strategic Alliance Manager Sammy Kioko says efforts to curb increased incidences of cyber crime within Africa’s financial institutions, government agencies and private sector have received a boost through the planned summit.

Mr. Kioko says the summit comes against a backdrop of the much needed front line measures required to protect infrastructure within organizations and systems from the current IT related threats as a key strategic priority with cyber attack identified as a top tier risk over the coming years.

He points out that banks and government agencies have become the most affected in the ICT scams.

Mr Kioko says the event will help all players to identify the technical, environmental and business risks that could lead to service vulnerability, weaken consumer confidence and ultimately cause brand damage and serious revenue decline.

And speaking at the media briefing, Ministry of Transport, Communication, Works and Supply acting Director of communication Milner Makuni says government is keen to learn more on how to utilize ICT for social economic development.

And Bankers Association of Zambia Chief Executive Officer Leonard Mwanza says banks are the primary targets of cyber crime thus it is important that interventions are put in place to protect public funds and build trust in the customers unlike the case is where people are scared to put money in banks due to cyber crimes.