Telco firms lay out strategies to beat hackers

Telecommunications service providers Safaricom and Bharti Airtel say they are taking the issue of hacking seriously, noting the need to be proactive in protecting customers information.

Speaking at the East African Business Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, on Friday, Safaricom chief executive officer Bob Collymore and Mr Chidi Okpala, director and Africa head of Airtel Money, said they were doing everything to ensure such intrusions do not occur.

“There is potential for the system to be hacked. If you can hack the US State department data and listen to Angela Markel (German Chancellor) speak over the phone, then the potential for malice is there,” Mr Collymore said.

He said telecommunications firms are taking the issue if hacking very seriously. “It has not happened so far but we are taking every serious step to mitigate the risks of hacking,” he said.

The summit, which was organised by Nation Media Group, Citi Bank, KPMG, Deloitte, PwC and Serena Hotels, ended on Friday.

The two also said the government, and in particular Kenya Revenue Authority, had not asked the two firms mobile data of its customers for taxation purposes.

“There is due process and regulations on how we use customer data. The taxman can go to court and obtain court orders. We will never allow the law to be broken. We are service providers,” Mr Okpala told business chief executives and government officials at the forum.

While discussing “Information and Communications Technology (Accelerating the brave new world of m-commerce),” Mr Collymore said Safaricom will not sell any of its customer’s data. “Customers didn’t sign up for us to sell their data. Like banks, we can’t sell or reveal their data. There is a lot of trust in mobile money. We understand the value and potential damage of the information we have.

“We can only operate within the law. If the law doesn’t provide that we share data, we can’t share data with government, and if it does we will cooperate,” he said.

Mr Raymond Jumah, the head of New Products and Innovations, Comzafrica, a telecommunications service provider said there is need for platforms that create convergence.

“Launch of mobile money platforms is encouraging. There are about 236 mobile money transfers platforms in world.

He said as technology solution providers, Comzafrica is putting forth a platform that will deliver mobile solutions and bring financial institutions into the loop.