Agents will serve their corporate clients well by passing on some advice from Standard Bank and Diners Club (widely used by corporates for travel purposes for its airport lounge access and other benefits), on how to mitigate their risk following the significant data breach affecting South Africa’s banking industry.
During the incident, customer demographic information such as ID numbers, addresses and contact details were obtained fraudulently from Experian, a credit ranking bureau that helps institutions make credit and loan decisions. Experian says it has identified the fraudster and impounded the individual’s hardware, claiming that the misappropriated data has been secured and deleted.
Banks have proactively stepped up authentication processes as well as fraud prevention and detection strategies, while warning clients to continue being extra vigilant and report suspicious activities. The information of about 24m people and the details of close on 800 000 businesses were acquired by the fraudster, who posed as a client requesting data from Experian.
According to a statement issued by Standard Bank, which also applies to Diners Club, clients and members need to practise risk mitigation by changing banking passwords on digital banking platforms as well as social media passwords; registering for MyUpdates (a free SMS service) to get notifications of transactions on accounts; and by not sharing details or one-time pins with anyone.
“The compromise of personal information can create opportunities for criminals to impersonate you, but does not guarantee access to your banking profile or accounts. Criminals can, however, use this information to trick you into disclosing your confidential banking details,” says South African Banking Risk Centre ceo, Nischal Mewalall. People can also register with the Southern Africa Fraud Prevention Service for protective registration if they are worried.
