[July 26, 2011] Experts Meet in Bid to Keep Mobile Cash Transfer Secure Tweet Nairobi, Jul 26, 2011 (The Nation/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- Kenya's success in using mobile phones for money transfer has attracted international security experts who see it being replicated globally. Experts from the US on Monday began discussions with their Kenyan counterparts with the aim of devising stringent measures to guard against hi-tech criminals. Other participants at the Nairobi forum dubbed 'East African Workshop on Cyberspace Security' were from Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. US official Chris Painter said emergence of smart phones and increased use of the mobile phone technology was bound to attract hackers. "Around the world people are using phones more and more for Internet and online payments. Kenya has been the leader in mobile banking and online payments. "Criminals are very sophisticated and they will see this area where technology is moving," he said. Information Minister Samuel Poghisio said M-Pesa service, which is the market leader, had acquired 16 million users since its launch in 2007. "A rapid response team and necessary laws are required to safeguard investments made in mobile platforms," he said. Information PS Bitange Ndemo said Kenya had put measures in place to guard against fraud, but global use of the technology still exposed Kenyans to criminals. "We are neither insecure nor completely secure. We are not ruling out that in the next few years they (criminals) will be very sophisticated. That's why we are introducing standards as the stopgap," he said. The PS promised to have the Data Protection Bill and the Freedom of Information Bill ready by next week. At the same time, he said a computer rapid response team would be set up in the ministry to forewarn of hackers. In the past, hackers have hit the official police and Treasury websites, but have not penetrated mobile phone service systems. At present, Safaricom has M-Pesa, Airtel has Zap, Orange operates Orange Money and there is yu Cash ran by the yu network. More than 50 per cent of Kenyans use the services to send money to relatives and most recently to pay utility bills. The service also makes it possible to withdraw money from banks using mobile phones. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]