In the last day or so, GTBank customers who login to the internet banking portal will have encountered a splash screen that invites them to activate a new security feature — a cybercrime prevention solution from Trusteer. Trusteer is a globally acclaimed provider of endpoint cybercrime prevention solutions that help organisations guard against financial fraud and data breaches.
GTBank runs the biggest internet banking operation in the country, making its customers the most obvious targets for cyber highwaymen. This explains why the bank is doubling down on security, and deploying Trusteer Rapport to secure their customers’ personal information and bank accounts from identity theft and fraud.
Most Nigerians are familiar with who “Yahoo Yahoo boys” are. When they first came to prominence, they were best known for targetting hapless foreign magas online. These days, it’s become much harder than it used to be to get the magas to pay. At home however, the internet economy has begun to take off in earnest, creating new hunting grounds for cyber criminals.
While some know enough to ignore dubious emails, avoid phishing scams and use antiviruses to secure their online transactions, most Nigerians are new to the realities and security implications of online transactions, making them easy prey for cyber criminals. The horror stories of people losing money to online fraud would exhaust miles and miles of Nollywood movie reels.Not surprisingly, these occurrences have inspired widespread distrust in electronic transactions as a whole, posing a real threat to the growth of e-commerce and cashless society initiatives.
As more Nigerians come online, they reality of cyber threats cannot be ignored for much longer, especially in the financial sector. In a time not too far from now, security will become a major differentiator that will influence people’s choice of banking products in Nigeria, and GTBank obviously recognises this. Trusteer Rapport represents another layer of security on GTBank’s internet banking platform. And the objective is simple. To make customers trust GTBank even more.
How does it work? Once installed, Trusteer Rapport becomes incorporated into the browser and locks down the connection between the customer’s PC and GTBank internet banking platform. The service checks that they are connecting to genuine gtbank website and not counterfeit sites, protects sensitive login information from phishing attempts and disables keylogging, screen capture and other suspicious activities often carried out by malware.
However, they make it clear that Trusteer Rapport is not intended to replace your usual antivirus software installation or firewall. Rather, it functions as an additional level of protection when the customer is carrying out transactions on GTBank’s internet banking platform. They also promise that Trusteer Rapport will play nice with PCs and won’t slow them down.
To find out more, visit the GTBank website here.
