KATHMANDU, Dec 17: Nepal Bankers' Association (NBA), in association with Microsoft, on Friday organized a gathering of banking and financial services industry stakeholders, including the Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Chiranjibi Nepal, to create awareness and discuss the increasing importance of 'Cyber Security and Trust in Technology'. 

As the country experiences the shift toward a more digital world, the governments and businesses are embracing a digital transformation, leveraging the Internet of Things, Business Intelligence and Cloud Computing. As they are also taking advantage of digital data in optimizing, transforming, and creating better services for their citizens and customers, Cyber Security and Trust in Technology has become more critical and relevant than ever before, Microsoft said in a statement.

Speaking at the event, Anil Keshary Shah, president of NBA, discussed the threats and consequences of cyber-attacks in banking systems and outlined the steps that banks need to take for minimizing and managing these threats, particularly in wake of the recent cyber-attacks in South Asia, including banks in Nepal.

"News of security breaches continues to dominate headlines, and the scale and scope of intrusions are growing," Shah said, adding, in 2014 alone, data breaches were up by 78 percent over the previous year, and cyber criminals compromised more than a billion data records in more than 1,500 breaches. "In a 2014 report for the World Economic Forum, McKinsey & Company estimated the risk of cyber attacks could materially slow the pace of technology and business innovation with as much as $3 trillion in aggregate impact."

At the program, Astrid Tuminez, senior director - Corporate Affairs, Microsoft South East Asia, made a presentation on the opportunities made possible by cloud computing in the age of the 4th Industrial Revolution. "But the other side of this innovation is cybercrime, which is becoming more frequent, sophisticated and targeted," he added. "Enterprises need to understand cyber security and resilience through trusted technology."

“The Microsoft Trusted Cloud helps you focus on your core business. One can achieve the benefits of the cloud while knowing that your security, privacy, and compliance needs are being met. Microsoft provides cloud services to the world's leading enterprises and government agencies," Tuminez added.

The Microsoft cloud infrastructure supports over 1 billion customers and it has consumer services in 140 countries and supports 10 languages and 24 currencies. With this unique experience and scale, Microsoft cloud services achieve higher levels of security, privacy, and compliance than most customers could achieve on their own, he added. "When organizations use the Microsoft Trusted Cloud, they benefit from Microsoft's scale and experience running highly secure and compliant online services around the globe. Microsoft's expertise becomes the customer's expertise."

The program also featured a panel session on cyber security with Deputy Inspector General of Nepal  Police Nawa Raj Silwal, who is also the chief of CIB Nepal, Ajit Regmi- Deputy Director (IT) of Nepal Rastra Bank, Anil Keshary Shah - president of NBA and CEO of Mega Bank Ltd, Sudesh Khaling - CEO Laxmi Bank Ltd, Bijendra Suwal - CIO of Nepal Investment Bank Ltd, Bin Ru Tan - Regional Sales Director of SEA New Markets, Microsoft, and Astrid S. Tuminez - Regional Director for Corporate, External and Legal Affairs SEA, Microsoft, as panelists.

 
• nepal bankers' association
 
• microsoft
 
• cyber threats