He Republic Bank (BROU) reported that the complaints frauds and scams with credit and debit cards during 2023 were 40% less than the previous year since during 2022 a peak in complaints was obtained, reaching a total of 1,400.
According to the banking entity, the remaining 60% were attempts at frauds and scams that could not be realized thanks to the actions of the bank, as well as the Police. For its part, the 40% that did manage to materialize correspond to the late detection of maneuvers by the bank or the police or also due to the rapid action of criminals.
The manager of BROU, Mariela Espinoclarified that the total corresponds to the number of complaints, which does not mean that all of them are scams either frauds that have been finalized. For her part, the leader explained that these crimes occur due to failures or carelessness of clients and not due to vulnerabilities that the banking system has.
Government actions to increase cybersecurity
Uruguay will have, starting this year, official indicators of cybersecurity and on the development of this matter in the country’s companies, with the aim of diagnosing and strengthening the ecosystem of practices against cybercrime.
The Agency for Electronic Government and Information and Knowledge Society (Agesic) announced that it will incorporate indicators of cybersecurity In two investigations carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and the National Development Agency (ANDE).
This initiative is in line “with the objectives and goals set out in the Uruguay Digital Agenda 2025 and the Digital Government Plan 2025 to strengthen the national ecosystem of Cybersecurity, expanding monitoring, detection, prevention and response capabilities,” according to the official statement from the government agency.
What are the investigations like?
Regarding the INE investigation, this is about the Annual Economic Activity Survey (EAAE)one of the main sources of information on the structural characteristics of the main sectors of economic activity Uruguayan.
In this regard, the 2023 survey incorporated a new category linked to the development of the cybersecurity in the module about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) —a sector in full growth in the country, both in size and importance to national economic activity.
The INE is currently working on the systematization of the data collected and on the preparation of the final report, which will include this new information for the first time.
On the other hand, ANDE is already working on the First National Microenterprise Survey (ENM)whose results will not be presented until the end of 2024. This measurement—promoted in conjunction with the National Directorate of Crafts, Small and Medium Enterprises (Dinapyme)— will allow obtaining quality information on a section of companies that are currently not reached by official statistics.
According to Agesic, “the information collected through these two mechanisms will allow the construction of a diagnosis of the country’s current situation in terms of cybersecurity and, consequently, adjust or develop information security policies specific; identify risks, vulnerabilities and define actions to mitigate them, in addition to generating instances to raise awareness and train with the objective of strengthening the national cybersecurity ecosystem”.
Source: Ambito
