State Bank hires Supernet to bolster its cyber security

KARACHI: Supernet, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telecard Limited, has been awarded a Rs100 million contract to add a second layer of defence to State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) cyber security framework, a company statement said on Wednesday.

It was notified by Telecard Limited to Pakistan Stock Exchange in a bourse filing.

However, a central bank official refused to confirm the development saying, “If anything is confirmed, it will be officially shared via press release’ in a WhatsApp message”.

According to the company, this contract involves supply, installation, maintenance and technical support of Next Generation Intrusion Detection and Protection Systems (IDPS) to secure SBP infrastructure from Advanced Persistent Threats (APT).

This IDPS solution will provide SBP with removal of vulnerable exploits and unidentified threats originating against any targeted system, applications or hardware.

In addition, the IDPS will provide remedial measures, as and when any malicious behavior is detected.

This solution will operate by scanning all network traffic on SBP’s gateways, detecting and protecting against threats like DoS, DDoS, worms and viruses, additionally, adding a second layer of defence to SBP’s security framework. Supersecure, a Supernet subsidiary, would be the one that would eventually be helping the State Bank beef up its cyber security.

A Supersecure official said the banking industry, just as many other industries, had seen a surge in digitisation, which meant more transactions happening than ever before because of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Annual Payment System Review (PSR) 2020-21 released by the State Bank, the number of transactions processed through Pakistan Real-time Inter-Bank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM) increased 60 percent on a year-on-year basis in FY2021, while there was an increase of 12.8 percent in value terms. Moreover, e-banking transactions surged 31.1 percent.

Just as security is required in the form of guards and armoured vans for banks to move physical currency from one place to another, cyber security also needs to be enhanced when quantum of online transactions etc. increases manifold as has been the case amid the pandemic globally, according to the official.

“The threat will always remain even in the digital space,” the company source said and added, “All companies will need to jack up their cyber security and they need to improve systems”.

Several banks in Pakistan have endured hackings in the past with the attack on NBP being the most recent. In 2018, at least six Pakistani banks had suspended usage of their debit cards outside the country after BankIslami suffered a cyberattack that siphoned off Rs2.6 million to the dismay of its unsuspecting consumers.

Then, a Moscow-based anti-fraud firm, the Group IB, said nine Pakistani banks, including BankIslami, Habib Bank, JS Bank, Faysal Bank, Soneri Bank, Bank of Punjab, Bank Alfalah, Silkbank, and MCB Bank had witnessed abnormal transactions.

The skimming took details of nearly 20,000 debit and credit cards from 22 Pakistani banks, according to Pakistan Computer Emergency Response Team (PakCERT), a monitoring group.

Following the incident, the SBP issued directives to all banks to foster arrangements to ensure security of all payment cards in the country and monitor, on real-time basis, usage activity of their cards, especially overseas transactions.

Telecard limited share price jumped almost 6 percent during the day when the company announced this development. It was the second most traded stock during the day behind Hascol. Its stock price has gone up by 746 percent during the last one year.