New incident warning system in the fight against phishing
20 July 2023 - 3 min Reading time
Phishing has become a social problem, with harmful consequences for many citizens and companies. To address this, the government and Febelfin are working together to significantly strengthen the fight against online fraud. That is why Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne, Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem and Febelfin have been working on a bill to set up an incident warning system. This bill was approved today by the Council of Ministers.
In 2022, a total of 39.8 million euros was stolen as a result of phishing, an increase compared to last year (2021: 25 million euros). This is mainly due to the enormous increase in the number of phishing messages sent out.
For the banking industry, it is essential to ensure the security of online transactions and prevent fraudulent practices. Thanks to partnerships, innovative projects, intensive monitoring, educational programs and awareness campaigns, the banking sector is making great efforts to prevent fraud attempts as much as possible and to increase knowledge about cyber security and various forms of online fraud. This is to better protect the population against the dangers of cybercrime.
The creation of an incident alert system is an additional step in the fight against online fraud.
The incident warning system will allow the banks to cooperate in the fight against fraud that affects both consumers and the integrity of the financial sector.
The incident warning system
This system is a platform on which banks can warn each other about suspicious transactions. The aim is to enable banks to immediately block new fraudulent transactions and thus better protect their customers. This initiative allows banks to exchange information about possible fraud incidents.
This measure is necessary because online fraudsters do not limit themselves to the customers of one bank. If a report appears on the platform, banks can immediately take the necessary internal measures and prevent new incidents. It is therefore crucial that banks can warn each other and share data.
Previously, exchanging information was not always possible due to privacy legislation. This bill now provides a legal framework and has been carefully drafted to fully comply with privacy legislation. It includes a precise definition of the modalities regarding the data that can be stored, what is considered an incident, how long data can be kept, etc.
