Dubai: Hackers may take advantage of the rush to get an International Bank Account Number (IBAN) mandated by the UAE Central Bank by luring customers to log on to phoney bank websites, security experts have warned.
On October 17, the UAE Central Bank told banks to adopt the IBAN system from November 19. IBAN, now used in over 50 countries, eases traceability of transactions anywhere in the world.
The shift to IBAN, however, could be used for massive "phishing" attacks targeting UAE bank customers, experts said.
Banks must be careful
Tamim Tawfique, IT security company Symantec's head of consumer sales for Middle East and North Africa, said: "Some of the newer attacks are very sophisticated and are sometimes hard to spot for an untrained eye."
Symantec had witnessed a huge jump in phishing — the use of fake websites to get information from victims — on UAE banks in 2010. Anti-fraud company IT Matrix has said that the UAE has topped the list of attracting the most phishing attacks on banks in the Arab world, with 1,145 unique attacks in 2010 and 420 attacks seen until March this year.
Florian Malecki, a France-based manager of IT security company SonicWALL for Europe, Middle East and Africa, also told XPRESS a spike in phishing attacks is likely.
"Phishing is not new," said Malecki, "[but] if there's a big hoo-ha about IBAN numbers, cyber-criminals could launch renewed attacks to take advantage of the high volume of data they can use. While the conversion [successful attacks] rate in the UAE for phishing may be low… the number of victims could go up with more attacks."
Banks, caught in the IBAN storm, have assured thousands of customers hungry for information that they will comply "soon" with the Central Bank's rule.
Many employers have nudged their employees to get their individual IBANs at the earliest. Most employees don't know where to start and are worried about not being able to get their salaries on time. "If my salary gets delayed by this IBAN thing and my rental cheque bounces, then it's not helpful," said an Asian expatriate.
An Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank staff told XPRESS they would send the new IBAN number to customers via SMS. No date was given.
An Emirates NBD official said they will inform customers about their IBANs "soon".
HSBC UAE, meanwhile, made a faux pas, exposing more than 170 of its premium customers, when it sent out a mass email advisory on the IBAN adoption.
Industry officials are, however, confident the IBAN transition will be uneventful.
"I don't think this transition will provide an opening for cyber-criminals," said a senior Standard Chartered Bank official. "The numbers will be system-generated. Our customers will be informed about it shortly. They don't need to do anything. We will do it for them."
HOW TO GET YOUR IBAN
Call your bank. It is responsible for generatingan IBAN for you before November 19
IBAN will have the country code, bank and branch code, among others, added to your existing bank account