RIPE NCC hosts roundtable discussion on secure and resilient Internet banking in Lebanon

• Event designed to ensure local banks’ full network autonomy and Internet access resiliency

• Training on cyber threats and cybercrimes also held in the country

The RIPE Network Coordination Centre (NCC), in cooperation with Data Consult, recently gathered the key stakeholders in the Lebanese banking sector for an important roundtable discussion on secure banking and Internet banking resiliency.

Titled “How resilient is your Internet banking?”, the event which took place in Beirut, Lebanon, comes at a time when banks and other financial institutions in the country and other parts of the world are becoming increasingly reliant on online information technology (IT) systems for smooth organizational operations, high productivity, and enhanced customer experience. Global financial institutions and banks are under immense pressure to ensure a stable, secure and resilient access to the Internet given the potentially enormous costs of failing to do so.

“Being disconnected from the Internet is considered a catastrophic event by the banking sector. As such, it has become extremely important for banks to establish full network resiliency as well as full autonomy in data routing. During the roundtable session attended by experts from the RIPE NCC and senior executives from the Lebanese banking sector, we carefully studied various ways to achieve these goals. Steps toward these goals included obtaining their own Internet Number Resources for their networks, the importance of multi-homing their network and Internet traffic flows, and dealing with risk on the network such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, filtering and malware,” said Paul Rendek, Director of External Relations at the RIPE NCC.

“Through this roundtable session and similar events that we organize, we confirm our commitment to work with our members and Internet community in the Arab region to advance Internet development addressing the issues and requirements related to this sector that focused on resiliency and security”, Rendek added.

“In the evolving threat landscape, the fortress-approach to security is inefficient, we need to focus our attention to be connection-specific and build our defenses inside out. With software-defined architectures, networking is also being recreated placing security at its core. It's time to redefine the way we build networks and the way we connect users to data”, said Marc Nader COO of Data Consult.”

“There were some very interesting discussions with security experts from the banking community and valuable insights from RIPE NCC during the meeting. I believe it's time to start preparing for an “open security forum” in our country”, Nader added.

Parallel to the banking roundtable, the RIPE NCC also conducted a training session in Lebanon for Law Enforcement Agencies. The “LIR Training” is an introduction to the RIPE NCC's administrative procedures and RIPE Policies related to obtaining and distributing Internet resources (i.e. IP addresses, AS Numbers and reverse DNS delegation) and operating a Local Internet Registry (LIR). The course includes a basic introduction to the RIPE Database.

The RIPE NCC is continuously collaborating with government bodies and other concerned organizations in an effort to adopt a clear methodology that contributes to the common objectives of developing the sector and adopting the latest technology for Internet security.

The two RIPE NCC-led events included several sessions that explored the technical challenges facing the Internet as well as Internet resources in Lebanon and capacity-building initiatives aimed at supporting further development of the Internet community in Lebanon and other Arab countries.