By William Madouk
Connect, an internet provider company is considering enhancing cybersecurity in the banking sector to address the demands of advancing technology and to prevent cyber attacks.
Mr. Dominic Fahed, the general manager of Connect, made this statement during a breakfast meeting with stakeholders from various banks across the country.
The event aimed to improve communication, interact with clients, and understand their needs, and was organized under the theme ‘change the way you connect.’
“So, now we are looking on how to evolve with all what is happening in the digital market,” Fahed said.
“Starting from AI to cybersecurity to different aspects ongoing – satellite connectivity, fibre connectivity to microwave connectivity, to different ways on how to connect,” he added.
He added that the South Sudan market is evolving as technology keeps advancing daily, adding that previously there was one internet provider and the internet could blackout anytime.
“Now, if the internet has a problem for two seconds, we get thousands of calls of what is happening. It’s two seconds and people now cannot tolerate it,” he explained.
Fahed cited that if Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram is not working people marvel.
“The most important part of banking and transactions is security, and this is why we have insisted on inviting our business development manager from our group to present cybersecurity,”
“Because nowadays, without cybersecurity – it is like you are living your home without securing your home,”
Moreover, he warned that if any bank or an entrepreneur is not secured, they would continuously face cyber attacks.
Meanwhile, Georges Bou Chaaya, Business Development Manager at Emea company said they would identify, detect and protect against any potential security breach in any organization.
“We believe in cybersecurity evolution – cybersecurity is a need for each company. To the enterprise, banking sector, telecom, healthcare, everywhere and everybody needs to be secure,” he noted.
He added that they also assess security and sensitize staff on cyber security threats.
“As I mentioned, the ever-changing nature of the cyber threat, you believe you have an antivirus and you believe to be secure because you have everything including a firewall,” Chaaya cited.
“The hackers have new ways to attack you, so you need to be up to date,” he continued.
According to him, Emea firm which is currently working in most of the countries can monitor websites, Facebook and emails – and when impersonators create similar accounts– they would detect it and bring it down.
“When we talk about banks, we can track the credit cards and the banking cards – so in case the customer has a credit card exposed somewhere without his knowledge, we can tell him be careful your credit is exposed.”
According to DataReportal 2022, South Sudan’s population was 11.50 million but increased by 212 thousand (+1.9 per cent) between 2021 and 2022, in which 49.9 per cent are females while 50.1 per cent of the population are males.
At the start of 2022, 20.9 per cent of South Sudan’s population lived in urban centres while 79.1 per cent lived in rural areas.
It said that, there were 1.25 million internet users in South Sudan in January 2022, while the internet penetration rate stood at 10.9 per cent of the total population at the start of 2022.
Analysis indicates that internet users in South Sudan increased by 184 thousand (+17.3 per cent) between 2021 and 2022.