Exploring the Role of Financial Cybersecurity Risk Management in Enhancing the Performance of Banking Payment Systems in Nigeria: A Qualitative Case Study

Abstract

Proactive Financial Cybersecurity Risk Management Systems (FCRMS) have significant importance and benefits in enhancing the performance of banking payment systems, but numerous investigations have significantly shown that lack of proactive Cybersecurity risk management practices has led to poor performance of banking payment systems in Nigeria. Globally cyber attack occurs every 39 seconds on average with about 2,200 cyber attacks daily. Significant evidence in the literature has shown that 70% of cyber breaches in Nigeria were financially motivated, with 4% relating to espionage, 40% being done by phishing, 11% involving malware of some kind, and hacking at 22%. Nigeria was classified as 7.5% of the world's hackers, ranked 3rd in global internet crime, and 16th among the countries most affected by internet crime in the world. The purpose of this study was to identify strategies, experiences, perspectives, and practices stakeholders use in managing cybersecurity risks to enhance the performance of banking payment systems in Nigeria. The conceptual framework adopted for this study is Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) security. The study’s population consisted of qualified and experienced developers of FCRMS in Nigeria chosen from 1 organization in Enugu, Nigeria. The data collection process included semi-structured, in-depth face-to-face interviews with 10 FCRMS developers and the analysis of 15 documents: 6 from participant case organizations and 9 from nonparticipant case organizations. Member checking was adopted to verify the accuracy and credibility of the data collected. Methodological triangulation revealed 4 major themes from the study: (a) importance of proactive and robust FCRMS strategies, (b) importance of prioritizing risks and allocating resources, (c) importance of implementing robust firewalls and intrusion detection systems, and (d) importance of integrated cybersecurity risk management approach that incorporates user-centered FCRMS design. The findings in this study may be beneficial for the future development of strategies for effective and efficient FCRMS to enhance the performance of banking payment systems in Nigeria and for other information technology systems that are Cybersecurity Risk Management Systems dependent.