ln line with Egypt’s commitment to fostering cooperation with African counterparts across all sectors, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) welcomed a high-level delegation from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). The official three-day visit focused on the CBE’s Cybersecurity Sector and the Egypt Financial Computing Incident Response Team (EG-FinCIRT), which stands as a leading regional model in cybersecurity at the level of Africa and the Middle East.
The delegation, including five specialists from the technical team of the CBK’s Banking Sector Security Operations Center (BS-SOC), aimed to exchange expertise and knowledge in cybersecurity while gaining firsthand exposure to Egypt’s successful establishment and operation of EG-FinCIRT.
Dr. Sherif Hazem, CBE’s Sub-Governor for Cybersecurity, remarked, “The consistent visits by African central banks to leverage Egypt’s expertise in this critical field highlight the CBE’s leadership in cybersecurity. As global cyber threats grow, such collaborations are vital to strengthening national capabilities to adopt and expand the use of emerging technologies.”
In the same context, Dr. Ibrahim Mostafa, Assistant Sub-Governor and Director of EG-FinCIRT, emphasized, “EG-FinCIRT serves as a pioneering regional model for advancing cybersecurity strategies, as well as playing a crucial role in coordinating with the Incident Response Technical Teams at both regional and international levels, thereby strengthening the capacity to combat cyberattacks, which are increasingly targeting the economies of many countries.”
The visit focused on strategies for detecting and responding to security threats, in addition to the latest methods and mechanisms for identifying and addressing security vulnerabilities and breaches, particularly within the FinTech sector. It also explored how financial institutions comply with the best global cybersecurity frameworks and standards, and the procedures for issuing necessary license and accreditations for FinTech applications and technical solutions, aiming to support secure digital transformation efforts and ensure the stability of local and regional markets.
The visit reflected the Kenyan delegation’s keenness to capitalize on the CBE’s expertise in developing and implementing a cybersecurity strategy and its application mechanisms. This aligns with the CBK’s current strides to adopt and implement an integrated strategy in the coming years, aimed at establishing a holistic cybersecurity framework in the financial sector at Kenya, following the CBE’s model. These efforts include establishing and operating a specialized cybersecurity incident response team in the banking and financial sector, as well as developing a regulatory cybersecurity framework – which is regularly updated – to enhance readiness and support ongoing improvements in cybersecurity controls. The strategy also involves reviewing security measures of applications and digital technology systems prior to granting approval for their use.
