Central banks now target for cybersecurity, BoZ calls for collaborations from counterparts

The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) is concerned that the Central Banks across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have recently been targets for cybersecurity.

The Central bank had, therefore, called for close collaboration from the SADC counterparts to protect themselves from cybersecurity risks which they had increasingly been exposed to.

With the increase in technological advancement, Central Banks in the region, including the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) are increasingly being exposed to cybersecurity risks.

This is according to the BoZ Deputy Governor-Administration, Rekha Chifuwe Mhango, at the 29th Annual Meeting of the SADC Committee of Central Bank Governors (CCBG) ICT-Subcommittee in Livingstone on Monday.

Mhango acknowledged that a number of central banks’ members had been affected by cyber incidents with the BoZ not been an exception.

“We, therefore, need to closely collaborate in enhancing cybersecurity and developing resilience of all critical ICT systems to mitigate disruptions whether caused by natural disasters, cyberattacks, or other unforeseen events.

“Establishing robust business continuity and disaster recovery plans as well as developing capabilities to support business processing from multiple locations is, therefore, essential,” she said.

In this regard, she noted, the development and establishment of a fit-for-purpose, well-researched and consultative cybersecurity supervision framework continued to be a focal point for the CCBG ICT-Subcommittee.

Mhango implored the members to leverage on Big Data concepts and embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to deliver the business value that they seek.

She also talked about awareness of the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

She noted that a number of central banks in the region were considering the introduction of CBDCs and were at various stages of feasibility studies.

The CCBG ICT Subcommittee, Mhango said, therefore, became key to informing the decisions on adoption of CBDCs.

“In view of increased exposure to cybercrimes, you will be called upon to evaluate the use of tools such as Blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) to enhance security and support the successful implementation of CBDCs in the region,” she said.

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