…Cites $2m UBA Senegal Heist
…Orders Lighter Cybersecurity Measures
Daud Olatunji
The Federal Government has raised fresh concerns over the growing threat of cyber-enabled Automated Teller Machine attacks across Africa, warning Nigerian banks to urgently strengthen their cybersecurity systems to prevent similar breaches.
The alert followed the recent theft of more than $2 million from the United Bank for Africa’s operations in Senegal through thousands of fraudulent ATM withdrawals.
The warning was contained in a high-risk cybersecurity advisory issued on June 25 by the Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team, an agency under the Office of the National Security Adviser.
According to the advisory, cybercriminals compromised UBA Senegal’s card authorisation infrastructure and successfully executed 3,421 fraudulent ATM transactions, carting away over $2 million in a coordinated cash-out operation.
NgCERT described the attack as a major threat to financial institutions operating similar ATM and card payment systems across Africa, warning that Nigerian banks could be vulnerable if adequate safeguards are not implemented.
The agency said investigations showed that attackers typically gain access to banking networks through phishing campaigns, supply-chain vulnerabilities or insider compromise before escalating their privileges within critical systems.
It explained that after infiltrating a bank’s network, the hackers conduct internal reconnaissance to identify systems responsible for ATM transaction processing, payment card management and transaction authorisation.
The advisory noted that the attackers manipulate withdrawal limits, transaction velocity controls, fraud monitoring thresholds and payment card records, enabling multiple operatives to carry out simultaneous high-volume withdrawals from ATMs in different locations.
NgCERT warned that successful attacks could result in massive financial losses through rapid depletion of ATM cash reserves, compromise of core banking infrastructure and unauthorised manipulation of customers’ accounts.
It added that such breaches could also expose banks to reputational damage, regulatory sanctions, service disruptions and large-scale data compromises.
To mitigate the risks, the agency directed banks to strengthen privileged access management by enforcing multi-factor authentication for all administrative accounts.
It also urged financial institutions to harden ATM infrastructure by disabling unnecessary remote access, deploying the latest firmware updates and reviewing third-party vendor access to critical systems.
The advisory further recommended strict network segmentation, enhanced real-time transaction monitoring, continuous threat hunting, regular penetration testing and red-team simulation exercises to improve resilience against emerging cyber threats.
NgCERT also called on banks to intensify staff awareness programmes on phishing and insider threats while conducting regular incident response drills tailored to ATM cash-out scenarios.
The agency stressed that proactive cybersecurity measures had become imperative as cybercriminals deploy increasingly sophisticated tactics to target banking infrastructure across the continent.
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