The Jamaica banking sector is reportedly under pressure to roll back what has become a surfeit of hacking incidents targeting local commercial banks which is reportedly costing the banking sector around J$4 million per month.
The Jamaica Gleaner of Sunday May 5th quotes President of the Jamaica Bankers Association David Noel as saying that banks in Jamaica experience almost two cyber attacks weekly and that in one extreme month hackers succeeded in carting off $10 million.
Arising out of what is regarded in the country’s banking sector as a potentially formidable challenge to the integrity of the country’s banking sector Noel is quoted as saying that the sector is “working with law enforcement” in order to seek to maintain “customers’ privacy.” Jamaica’s central bank also reportedly sees the cybercrime targeting of commercial banks as what the Gleaner describes as “a rising problem for the banks” one response of which is likely to be “new rules to manage risk.” According to the Gleaner Report, there were sixty two “counts” of internet banking fraud in Jamaica resulting in a cumulative loss of $32.8 million. While the Gleaner says that the banks that are victims of cybercrimes “no not quantify the problem” they acknowledge that it is ‘growing” and that the intrusions and scams are becoming “increasingly sophisticated.” Tech savvy hackers are reportedly seeking to access banking platforms, forcing the banks to invest increasing sums in seeking to protect those platforms from intrusion.