The Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) PLC, Da-Costa Owusu-Duodu, has called for public consciousness in protecting their personal and business data and to avoid disclosing what verifies or confirms their identities, such as PINs and Passwords to third parties.

According to him, disclosure of personal information such as PINs and Passwords to third parties has a high risk of empowering fraudsters to use such information to defraud their victims and to also carry out other criminal activities. 

He said with the current operational landscape, marked by an ever-growing digital economy, data stands as a critical asset for individuals and businesses and must be jealously guarded.

He emphasised that safeguarding personal data is imperative to avoiding impersonations and tampering, which can lead to consequential losses.

The Chief Compliance Officer made the remarks as part of the 2024 Global Data Privacy and Protection Week celebration under the theme: “Take Control of Your Data."

The Data Protection and Privacy Week celebration, which is observed from the third week of January every year, serves as a constant reminder of the critical role everyone is expected to play in ensuring the privacy and security of sensitive information. The celebration also highlights the fact that data and information protection is a collective responsibility that requires consciousness and concerted efforts from individuals and institutions to ensure a risk-free cyber and digital information space.

Joining the global community for this year’s celebration, Mr. Owusu-Duodu highlighted ADB’s significant contribution to the industry’s data protection regime and reiterated the Bank’s unwavering commitment to continuously safeguard and protect the information of our cherished customers and all other stakeholders.

“As the people’s Bank, ADB PLC has classified data and information as one of the key assets of the Bank, which is jealously being protected.”

The Chief Compliance Officer stated. “ADB is a certified Bank that enforces strict compliance with the Data Protection Commission, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001, and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)".

Mr. Owusu-Duodu further indicated that ADB PLC was officially the first Bank to establish a Security Operation Center (SOC) with people, processes, and technology to continuously monitor and improve the organization's security posture while preventing, detecting, analyzing, and responding to cybersecurity incidents and other data-related issues. The SOC acts like the hub or central command post, taking in data from across an organization's technological infrastructure, including its networks, servers, user end devices, appliances, and information stores, wherever those assets reside.

Mr. Da-Costa Owusu-Duodu noted that the reasonable measures put in place have aided the Bank in enhancing 360-degree security controls on our data, including cardholder data. The measures also guide in enhancing controls, processes, and procedures that ensure Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability of data to the rightful parties.

The operations of the ADB SOC became a reference point for the Central Bank (Bank of Ghana) and other industry stakeholders, and it has contributed significantly to shaping the management of information and data systems in ADB and the industry as a whole.