If there wasn't a security breach at Standard Bank, what is going on?

Some Standard Bank clients have been in a state of panic over an alleged security breach, leading to what they said were fraudulent transactions and blocked accounts.

The problem was exacerbated by overloaded call centres during a busy month-end period.

Standard Bank declared that there had NOT been a breach of their systems, so what has actually been going on?

Ray White gets some insight from Steven Ambrose, MD of cybersecurity service provider Atvance Intellect.

Ambrose highlights the way our world uses social media as a central part of the bigger problem when it comes to cyberfraud.

"The best way to describe this situation is that social media has amplified an ongoing problem. So the fraud that's been with all the banks, with all the financial institutions, across insurance companies...has been steadily ramping up over the years."

"It's for a very simple reason - we live in a world where you can' knock someone over the head anymore and steal the cash out of their pocket. It's in a bank somewhere and you transfer it electronically, so fraud on bank accounts has become incredibly sophisticated.

"The banks are spending millions if not hundreds of millions of rand protecting the systems, creating platforms, using software products that use artificial intelligence to try to find out what sort of threat intelligence is going on."

Steven Ambrose, MD - Atvance Intellect

Ambrose sketches how fraudsters now have access to all kinds of bits of information which they're able to piece together - from phone calls and messages to a seemingly benign quiz you may have answered on Facebook.

'Then you get really convincing phone calls from the bank telling you there's been fraud on your account, things like that.'

He notes that banks do have automated systems that block accounts if there's suspected fraud.

In this case, if Standard Bank really had experienced a significant breach, they would have had to report it in terms of the Popi Act, he says.

"I think what's happened is a combination of poor customer service, they underestimated the growth in the number of these sort of engineered hacks or attacks on people's accounts."

Steven Ambrose, MD - Atvance Intellect

And while one never wants to blame the victim, he says, people can become lax with their online security, for instance re-using their passwords.

You can't always blame the bank, Ambrose reiterates.

"They have millions of customers and hundreds of these incidents are happening on a daily basis. People just have to be hyper-aware - you don't deal with people who phone you from the bank, ever. Phone the bank back, or your insurance company or your broker, on a number you know and you should have no problem."

Steven Ambrose, MD - Atvance Intellect