By Alusine Fullah

Sierra Leone Commercial Bank (RCB) has organised the first ever Cybersecurity and Financial Inclusion Symposium. In his message, Dr. Waltin Gilpin, the managing Director of RCB highlighted the essence of such a symposium. H noted: “Today is land mark in our country, especially in the banking sectors for us to be financially cybersecurity conscious. If the cybersecurity criminals we should not sleep. As people we need to be fully aware about cyber hikers…” The MDalso went further to the top 5 priorities of RCBank. He noted: “Our top most priorities for 2024 are: cashless ecosystem, banking process automation, digital transformation, cybersecurity resilience and gender parity…”

Lawrence McEwen, Executive Director EST Applied Intelligence UK spoke about the importance of cybersecurity in financial services. In line with that, he mentioned five limbs of the importance of cybersecurity in financial services. He said: “For effective financial services, we need to ensure business continuity, protect sensitive data, to mitigate financial fraud and to strengthen market confidence. Financial institutions are entrusted with highly sensitive data, such as personal identity details, financial transactions, and investment information. The stability of the financial markets is heavily dependent on the security of its underlying transactions and services. A strong cybersecurity posture fosters confidence among consumers, investors, and regulatory bodies in the reliability and safety of the financial sector…”

Several speakers from the Armed Forces of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Police, Organization of National Security, Ministry of Basic Education have also highlighted the their efforts in making sure Sierra Leone is safe from cyber threats. For instance, the Director of Curriculum from the Ministry of Basic Education firmly noted: “The Ministry is quite aware about cyber threats and cyber criminals especially in our learning institutions. We are working relentlessly in the creation of social awareness and academic awareness to our pupils.”