Digital forensic readiness for branchless banking

Abstract

Mobile phone's short message services technology is being leveraged to provide branchless banking in developed countries. These SMS-based services reach areas where bank branches or auto telling machines would not be feasible thereby enabling financial inclusion among the unbanked and low-income earners. However, the vulnerability of its service delivery platform makes it attractive to fraudsters. Lack of digital forensic readiness (DFR) scheme, specifically designed for BB, to capture and preserve potential evidence for further investigation of fraud remains a challenge in this domain. The availability of digital evidence maximises the potential of an organisation to successfully conduct investigation at a reduced cost. Therefore, branchless banking service providers should consider incorporating digital forensic readiness in their security strategies. In this paper, the authors propose a digital forensic readiness scheme that addresses the problem of fraud in branchless banking.