[July 26, 2011] CBK's Rules Raise Money Transfer Costs Tweet Jul 26, 2011 (Business Daily/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- Mobile phone firms will be forced to invest in new software and expertise to comply with Central Bank of Kenya demands on money transfer services. The companies will be required to file a security audit report with the regulator and adopt new measures to protect their systems from hackers. The move means that Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom's Orange, and Essar's Yu will have to contract professional bodies capable of conducting system audits on their behalf. The policy is also expected to have an impact on software vendors and those that provide storage facilities (data centres) for transactions with mobile firms. The proposal was drawn by the Ministry of Information. "Kenya, being the pioneer of mobile money transfer, stands to lose a lot if there are no policies that will tighten the security around this area," said Information permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo at the East Africa cyber forum held in Nairobi. Dr Ndemo said audits must be done by licensed firms. The mobile operators Monday said they would not comment on an issue that had not been brought to their attention. The policy is borrowed from the one used by the major electronic card service providers such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Known as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the policy is to be made legally effective in three weeks through the Kenya Gazette Notice. The PCI DSS is a widely accepted set of policies and procedures developed jointly by the four major card companies in 2004 to optimise the security of credit, debit, and cash card transactions and protect cardholders against misuse of their personal information. Mobile money transfer started in Kenya in 2007 when Safaricom introduced M-Pesa. The service's cumulative value of transactions since inception to March this year was Sh828 billion. It has a customer base of 13.8 million. The innovation has not only been replicated by its other rivals, but it is also being adopted by other mobile operators around the world. This comes at a time when global trends on cyber security indicate that hackers are moving from computers to financial transactions on mobile handsets which are used to store, send and receive money. Christopher Painter, a former US senior director of cyber security in the National Security Staff, said threats of being targeted by hackers were real. "Governments need to be proactive to tackle cyber related crimes as criminals are always on the move with new technologies and know where money is," said Mr Painter. In an increasingly cash-less world, e-crime has become a major transnational challenge for law enforcement agencies throughout the world, but there appears to be no breakthrough on how to contain it effectively. Electronic thieves operate in all countries. In Africa, most, but not all, cyber criminal activities emanate from Nigeria. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]