NEC Africa helps Ecobank strengthen Cybersecurity through integrated Network Security Platform

As financial institutions across Africa face an increasingly sophisticated cyber threat landscape, Ecobank is taking a more integrated approach to protecting its critical infrastructure, applications and users. Working with NEC Africa and Palo Alto Networks, Ecobank DRC has implemented a modern network and security architecture designed to provide greater visibility, stronger protection and more consistent security across its distributed banking environment.

The project addresses a fundamental challenge facing modern financial institutions: how to strengthen security without compromising the connectivity, performance and availability that customers and employees depend on.

"As Ecobank continues to expand digital services across Africa, our security posture has to evolve just as quickly. The work with NEC Africa and Palo Alto Networks in the DRC is a powerful example of how integrated visibility, Zero Trust principles and automation strengthen resilience across a distributed banking environment," says Parfait Lubamba, IT Director, Ecobank DRC.

"Banks are operating in an environment where the threat landscape is changing rapidly," says Arthur Taylor, Cybersecurity: Pre-Sales Architect. "Ransomware, phishing, credential theft and increasingly sophisticated attacks mean that organisations need to know what is happening across their environment and be able to respond quickly. Security cannot become another layer of complexity that disrupts the business. It needs to be integrated, visible and as frictionless as possible."

From Network Visibility to Cyber Resilience Ecobank DRC operates in a highly distributed environment, with branches, users, applications and data requiring secure and reliable connectivity. The challenge extends beyond simply protecting individual endpoints or network connections. The bank needs to ensure secure access to business-critical applications while maintaining resilience and continuity in the event of a security incident.

The new architecture provides a platform approach that brings networking, security, application awareness and visibility together. At its core is Palo Alto Networks Prisma SD-WAN, providing application-aware networking and helping the bank understand how applications are behaving across its environment. This enables teams to identify whether performance issues originate with an application, endpoint, network or service provider, while dynamically optimising application performance.

"For us, cybersecurity isn't a standalone function - it's a core part of how we protect our customers, our people and the integrity of our business in every market we operate in," says Lubamba. The integrated approach also gives Ecobank greater visibility across its environment, reducing the need for teams to manage multiple disconnected tools and platforms. "Visibility is fundamental to effective cybersecurity," says Taylor. "You can't protect what you can't see. By bringing these capabilities together, Ecobank can gain a much clearer view of what is happening across its environment and act earlier when something suspicious is detected."

Building Security for a Distributed African Environment The DRC deployment forms part of a broader strategic direction for Ecobank: moving towards a consistent, platform-based technology architecture across its African operations. Rather than deploying different technologies and security models in different markets, the approach is designed to provide a common architecture that can be scaled across countries and environments.

The DRC implementation provided an important proving ground for the approach. Following the successful deployment, Ecobank has elected to adopt the platform strategy more broadly, with rollout across its African estate becoming an ongoing programme.

This also demonstrates the growing importance of collaboration between NEC Africa and NEC XON. NEC XON currently holds Diamond Partner status with Palo Alto Networks, with NEC Africa working towards establishing the same level of partnership capability. This gives NEC teams across the continent access to specialist skills and experience that can support customers as they modernise their security environments.

Preparing for the Next Generation of Cyber Threats The move towards integrated security comes at a time when traditional approaches to cybersecurity are under increasing pressure. Zero Trust architectures, greater integration between network, endpoint and cloud security, and increased automation are emerging as key components of modern cyber defence.

Artificial intelligence is also changing the equation. As threat actors increasingly use automation and AI to accelerate attacks, defenders need the ability to detect, analyse and respond at comparable speed.

For financial institutions, this makes visibility and integration more than technology considerations. They are becoming essential components of business resilience.

"Threat actors are changing, so organisations need to change with them," says Taylor. "The future of cybersecurity is about Zero Trust, visibility and automation. The organisations that can bring those capabilities together will be in a much stronger position to protect their customers, their people and their business."

About NEC XON NEC XON Systems is a leading African integrator of ICT solutions and part of NEC, a global Japanese firm. The company has operated in Africa since 1963 and delivers communications, energy, safety, security, and digital solutions. It co-creates social value through innovation to help overcome serious societal challenges. The organisation operates in 54 African countries and has a footprint in 16 of them. Regional headquarters are located in South, East, and West Africa. NEC XON Systems is a level 1-certified broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) business.

Learn more at https://www.nec.africa/

Issued by: Michelle Oelschig, Scarlet Letter Contact details: 083-636-1766, michelle@scarletletter.co.za