The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), in partnership with the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, is holding its Inaugural National Cybersecurity Conference under the theme \u201cSecuring Uganda\u2019s Digital Future: Collaboration, Resilience and Trust\u201d at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel.<\/p>\n
The two-day conference has gathered cybersecurity experts, telecom operators, financial institutions, IT Leaders, regulators, and innovators, to mention but a few, to confront the growing threat of digital fraud in Uganda\u2019s fast-expanding mobile money and banking ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Speaking during a high-level panel discussion on \u201cPreparing for a More Secure Digital Future by Protecting Digital Financial Services: Addressing Social Engineering, SIM Swap, and Account Takeover,\u201d Airtel Money Commerce Uganda Limited (AMCUL) Managing Director, Japhet Aritho, said the industry must move beyond consumer awareness campaigns and build fraud prevention directly into the design of digital financial products.<\/p>\n
Social engineering, SIM swap fraud, and account takeover are rarely isolated incidents, but rather stages of the same attack chain. \u201cFor you to take over a mobile account, you have to do a SIM swap. For you to do a SIM swap, you have to start with social engineering, because there is some information that you have to pick,\u201d Aritho said, describing the three threats as deeply intertwined.<\/p>\n
He noted that telecom operators had been grappling with these challenges long before they became a mainstream public concern, pointing to an industry-led innovation<\/a> that has since become standard practice across Uganda\u2019s banking sector.<\/p>\n \u201cWe created APIs, very simple, done internally, not even by any sophisticated developer, which we exposed to all banks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Airtel Money Uganda subsequently pushed the Bank of Uganda to mandate that every commercial bank implement an IMSI check API, allowing banks to verify SIM swap activity in real time before authorizing transactions.<\/p>\n