Cellulant, Africa’s financial technology company has partnered with South African cybersecurity firm Entersekt to proactively secure Cellulant’s digital banking channels and guard against digital banking and payment frauds.
Entersekt will integrate its mobile software development kit with Cellulant’s product stack, making Entersekt’s authentication and app security solutions available to Cellulant’s clients. Two large Kenyan banking groups are already working on their deployment.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Cellulant. The company works with some of the finest brands on the continent. This collaboration will mean their partner banks’ end-customers can enjoy increased safety and security while transacting. We are very happy to support Cellulant’s cybersecurity efforts to drive consumer confidence in digital banking and boost the adoption of digital payments on the continent,” said Schalk Nolte, CEO of Entersekt.
Banking fraud remains a real threat in Africa, as it is elsewhere. According to a recent Kaspersky survey, 47% of users in the META region (Middle East, Turkey and Africa) faced banking fraud at least once in the first half of 2020. Banking app security in particular is a real challenge.
In February 2020, a group of researchers published a comprehensive study of 693 banking apps across 83 countries, including 49 apps from banks in Africa. “Banking apps belong to the most security-critical and data-sensitive app category,” the researchers emphasised. They found over 2,100 weaknesses in the apps tested. About a third of the apps (222) relied on invalid authentication implementations, while more than half (324 apps) displayed weaknesses in data transmission.
“Our clients trust us to not only be constantly innovating around digital banking and payments but also to guarantee safety and security. Being able to provide the powerful security and authentication services of Entersekt will significantly add to our platform offering. Through this partnership, we can deliver some of the most sophisticated services available anywhere in the world. We look forward to continuing our work with Entersekt as we help our clients take advantage of the many efficiencies afforded by digital banking.” said Cellulant CTO, George Murage.
