The Angolan central bank has seen 100 fewer attempted cyberattacks this year, with a daily average of 250 compared to 350 in 2023, the governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA) said today.
Manuel Tiago Dias, who was speaking today at the opening of the second edition of the BNA’s cycle of conferences with the theme “Cybersecurity in the Angolan Financial System,” said that the financial system and banks are favoured targets for criminals, and there is a need for constant improvements to the cybersecurity systems of all the institutions in the national financial system.
“As part of its Strategic Plan for the 2023-2028 period, the National Bank of Angola is greatly strengthening the institution’s cybersecurity pillars, implementing innovative processes and technologies, using artificial intelligence, to which is added a strong investment in its staff of specialists, in order to strengthen the confidence of participants in the financial sector it regulates and supervises,” he said.
According to the governor of the Angolan central bank, regulatory instruments are being devised to adapt current regulations to the dynamics imposed by the national and international cyber environment, boosting the exchange of information between financial institutions and beyond, helping to deal with cyber incidents, the motivations and impacts of which can be nationwide.
In his presentation, the deputy director of the BNA’s Banking Supervision department, Fernando Panzo, said that the Angolan central bank had already drawn up the cybersecurity framework, which is currently in the consultation phase with the banking institutions’ partners, the World Bank, for publication in December this year.
Speaking to journalists, the director of the BNA’s Integrated Security department said that the meeting identified the need to share information between banking institutions on cybersecurity incidents, which in Angola are mostly external in origin, with cases of attempted internal attacks.
António Neto emphasised that the impact of ransomware incidents was also discussed, situations in which cybercriminals, as well as blocking the banking infrastructure, demand payment of a ransom in exchange for handing over the code to regain access.
He also said that the BNA has information, “although not proven”, that “effectively, some ransom payments may be happening ‘on the side'”.
Lusa
