NEWS
Financial services companies targeted by 28 % of all cyberattacks on UK businesses
Imperva , a cybersecurity leader whose mission is to help organisations protect their data and all paths to it , has released new research showing that the volume of cyberthreats directed towards the financial services and insurance ( FSI ) industry has grown rapidly over the course of 2022 , driven by Digital Transformation and regulation such as Open Banking .
Imperva Threat Research found that more than a quarter of all cyberattacks ( 28 %) hit FSI businesses , double that of the next most-targeted sector . Application Programming Interface ( API ) abuse , DDoS attacks and bad bots were the three of the biggest cybersecurity challenges for the industry .
The growing risk associated with API-related security threats should be particularly concerning for the financial services industry , as APIs are the invisible connective tissue that enables applications to share data and ‘ talk ’ to each other .
Imperva Threat Research found that 30 % of all API traffic in this industry goes through shadow APIs , which represents a
major security risk for businesses . Shadow APIs are ones which are unsupervised or outside of the security team ’ s visibility yet connect directly to backend databases where sensitive data is stored . In recent years , hackers have increasingly targeted APIs as a pathway to the underlying infrastructure to exfiltrate sensitive information , with one in every 13 cyber-incidents estimated to be related to API insecurity .
Optasia collaborates with Ecobank and MTN for financial services in Guinea
The services will be offered to MTN ’ s subscribers in the country under the Ecobank product name ‘ Prêt Xpress ’, which is powered by Optasia ’ s AI-led technology platform – providing valuable financial solutions to the unbanked and underbanked while strengthening the partnership between Optasia , MTN Group and Ecobank .
Optasia , a leading FinTech services provider , has launched a microloan service via MTN Mobile Money ( MoMo ), with Ecobank in Guinea and MTN .
The launch comes as part of MTN ’ s BankTech strategy in Guinea with over 4.25 million subscribers and over 800,000 active mobile money wallet ( MoMo ) users .
“ Expanding our offering to the people of Guinea through MTN and Ecobank is a significant step in our growth plan as a company ,” said Mark Muller , CEO of Optasia . “ Such high-profile collaboration with our strategic partners reinforces our belief in driving financial inclusion .”
This deployment is the first MoMo loan service offered by MTN in the country and kicks off a series of deployments that Optasia will be rolled out with MTN in Uganda , Ivory Coast , Ghana and Benin .
Guinea joins more than 30 countries where Optasia operates , supporting more than 560 million customers of mobile network operators and financial institutions through its AI-led platform . www . intelligentfin . tech
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