The Potential For Cyber Attacks In Financial Sector Is Always Present, OJK Asks People To Arm Themselves With Education

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JAKARTA - Director of Banking Research and Regulation, Financial Services Authority (OJK), Mohamad Miftah said, the public must have awareness about digital financial security in the midst of technological advances like now. For this reason, it is absolutely necessary to increase education.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in cyber incidents in the financial sector including phishing attacks, pharming, data harvesting malware, data leaks and theft to online fraud.

Miftah said that the public, especially users of digital financial services, must be literate with digital security information and not rely on service providers.

"We need to improve literacy for the community, in other words, if you want to be safe, you have to protect yourself too, even though the banks have blocked and guarded it with security," Miftah said in a webinar on Thursday, October 28, as reported by Antara.

Miftah said that cyber attacks cannot be dealt with alone by one authority, but requires cooperation with various parties.

"The OJK and related institutions and authorities will continue to cooperate and coordinate on reporting and handling cyber incidents, especially in the banking and financial sectors," said Miftah.

"So it is indeed to be safe, not only work from industry and regulations but also from all stakeholders, especially from users. So hopefully the transformation of digital financial services that are continuously carried out by banks can certainly make it easier to provide a sense of comfort," he continued.

Meanwhile, related to illegal online loans (pinjol), according to Miftah, the public must receive clear education about its effects. The reason is, so far online loans offer something tempting by providing convenience.

"Actually, borrowing is not a problem, the problem is illegal. The opportunity to borrow is immediately present in front of your eyes, it seems easy even though later there will be more severe effects, that's what you don't realize," said Miftah.

Furthermore, Miftah said, "In terms of consumer education and protection, we have continued to convey which news is illegal and all kinds, our efforts are to educate the public because that is the key there."