Mobile Money Fraud: Cyber Security Expert Advises MTN to Conduct Ethical Hacking to Uncover Vulnerabilities

A cybersecurity consultant, Yaw Ansu Gyeabour, has advised MTN to conduct ethical hacking to reveal any vulnerabilities in its system.

This advice follows numerous mobile money fraud cases, including a recent one where a customer of MTN claimed that about GHS 11,000.00 had been withdrawn from her mobile money wallet without her authorization.

Speaking on Joy News’s News Desk on Wednesday, April 16, Mr. Ansu Gyeabour revealed that there are sometimes vulnerabilities that have not been discovered by the developers of applications, which hackers might discover and exploit.

Even though MTN has responded to the allegations of the customer and has revealed that their findings suggest that this was a social engineering case, Mr. Ansu Gyeabour advised that if MTN wants to do further investigations, they should conduct a penetration test to reveal their system vulnerabilities.

“In the case of MTN, I think that if they want to do further investigation, what will be appropriate for them is to do what we call ethical hacking or penetration testing. That is when that test is conducted, and that test will reveal any vulnerabilities that the system contains, based on which appropriate remedies can be sought.”

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However, the cybersecurity consultant explained that in most cases of mobile money fraud, the individual has to give a PIN out for authorization. He therefore advised that individuals protect themselves by avoiding giving out their mobile money pins.

“Never share verification codes or PINs with anyone, even if they claim to be from your service provider,” he warned. “Some links contain malware that can install keyloggers on your phone, recording everything you type, including sensitive banking details.”

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