The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has opened a new Banking Sector Cybersecurity Operations Centre (BS-SOC) to bolster the country’s financial system against rising cyber threats.
The centre forms part of CBK’s Cyber Fusion Unit and will operate to bring together tools, research, and data analysis to fight fraud, ransomware, and other cybercrime risks.
In a Monday statement, CBK clarified that the center will provide services such as cyber threat intelligence, incident response, digital forensics, and cyber investigations.
The vision is to strengthen the resilience of commercial banks and payment service providers against increasingly sophisticated criminals who have a tendency to target both the institutions and account holders individually.
At the same time, the regulator disclosed that it has moved to harmonize its existing cybersecurity guidelines the 2017 Commercial Banks Cybersecurity Guidelines and the 2019 Payment Service Providers Guidelines with new 2024 regulations.
In the meantime, all regulated firms will be required to comply with both sets of guidelines. They will also be required to report cybersecurity incidents to the new operations center within timelines in law.
Its success depends on the collaboration of all the stakeholders,” CBK said, citing the urgency of collective effort to protect the banking sector.
Kenyan banks have witnessed an ongoing increase in cyberattacks, with cybercriminals hacking into systems and vacuuming money from customers.
The new center will enable banks to have a stronger defense and quicker response to these attacks.
The move comes weeks after CBK warned lenders against acting too quickly to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) without safeguards.
In its 2024 annual report, the regulator acknowledged the benefits of AI in detecting fraud and tailored services but cautioned that danger linked to fairness, transparency, and ethics can destroy consumer confidence and financial well-being if not properly managed.
