As local banks scurry to get ahead in the digital race, increasing the digital touch points at which they engage their clients, the surface area for exposure to cybercrime in South Africa grows.
All of the big banks, which released financial results in the past month, said digitisation was a strategic priority. On average their branch networks shrank across the continent, as more clients turned to digital channels, but ATM footprints grew, according to a sector analysis report by EY.
Though the threat of a Bonnie-and-Clyde-style shootout in a bank branch may be reduced, card payment systems and ATMs continue to expose banking clients to risk.
But banks are not only vulnerable at the client interface. Secure as their systems may be, these are not impenetrable to data breaches.
In 2012, Postbank lost R42-million in a three-day hacking spree, and in 2016, Standard Bank lost R300-million from its system at 1400 ATMs in Japan, through cloned cards.
According to the Allianz Risk Barometer report, cybercrime remains the greatest risk to South African businesses in 2018.
Globally, the threat of "cyber hurricanes" has the potential to sweep through hundreds of companies in a single attack. Such attacks may not only interrupt business but pose reputational risks to companies...