Namibia a top destination for cyber criminals

“Namibia might be a small country known to only a few people internationally, but we have become a popular destination for cybercriminals to practice their trade,” says Garth Kleintjies, chief information officer of FNB Namibia.
“Sadly, by the end of December 2015 we were identified as the top African destination for cybercriminals by Check Point Software Tech­nologies.”
He explains that cybercrime is any criminal activity that is done using a computer or that originates from the internet.
“Cybercriminals usually aim at either stealing information, money and/ or defaming their victims.”
Kleintjies says that many people are surprised­ about the fact that Namibia is targeted.
“The fact that we have a very good communications network allows criminals access to move information and money out of the country. Other reasons are that our thriving banking sector with multiple points of presence throughout the country and internationally via ATM networks offers opportunity.­ Further­more, we have inadequate laws that focus on dealing with and bringing­ cybercriminals to justice. We also have limited capability of pro-actively monitoring and preventing such attacks.
“If we want to turn things around and deal more effectively with cybercrime it will require a collective effort as a nation. Thus there is an onus on government, corporates, business, consumers and individuals when it comes to cybercrime.”
Regarding government involvement, he says it will have to play its part in providing laws that deal specifically with cyber criminal activity; ensure capability to enforce and apply these laws; develop capacity for specialist skills; and reduce the time it takes to bring cybercriminals­ to justice.
“Agreements with other governments will have to be put in place as cybercriminals operate without borders and this in itself is the biggest challenge in bringing them to justice. Government has realised this and is in the process of drafting the Electronic Communications, Data Privacy and Cybercrime Bill tabled for approval in parliament. This is a step in the right direction and we know government is aware of the reputational risk. However, the challenge is the time it takes for these bills to be approved, as this has been ongoing for a few years already and we remain unsure when it will be approved.”
When looking at corporates and businesses, Kleintjies says that these also have big roles to fulfil in the cybercrime arena as they have to ensure data privacy and security of their customers, clients and partners. Data, as can be seen in the global media, is actively leaked into the public domain and this impacts directly on the credibility and reputation of firms, individuals and governments.
In addition, data leakage and theft can open these corporates and business to liability suits by third parties.
“In the financial services sector and where banking services are rendered, these service providers need to create aware­ness amongst clients and educate their customers on what they would communicate­ or expect to receive as communication from them, and what to guard against.”
He says FNB Namibia Holdings will continue to warn against spam mails, trojans, card fraud and many other types of attacks.
“This will help us deter criminals from obtaining our clients’ information and gaining access to transactional systems through phishing and malware.”
In the individual as well as in the corporate and governmental sector, ransomware attack instances have been on the increase globally.
This is a type of malware that attempts to extort money from a computer user by infecting or taking control of a victim’s computer or the files or documents stored on it. Typically, it will either lock the computer or disable user access to prevent normal use or encrypt documents and files to prevent access to the saved data.