Habeebu Lebbe Mohammed Rifan was sworn in yesterday (24) as a Member of the Tenth Parliament before  Speaker, Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne.

Following the oath and affirmation before the Speaker, he signed the Members’ Roll placed before Secretary General of Parliament,  Kushani Rohanadeera.

Habeebu Lebbe Mohammed Rifan has been appointed to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Mohamed Sheriff Abthul Wazeeth, who served as a National List Member of Parliament representing the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

An Attorney-at-law by profession, Habeebu Lebbe Mohammed Rifan completed his school education at Oddamavadi Central College in Batticaloa. He is also serving as the Kalkudah Electorate Organiser of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

by Chaminda Silva

Lankan banks are introducing additional security measures for online banking as increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks and cloned banking websites are being used by international scam networks to steal customers’ credentials and gain unauthorised access to their accounts, former Information Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) Director Prashansa Dissanayake said.

Dissanayake said the digital financial sector had faced a growing wave of cyber threats over the past year, with fraudsters increasingly using artificial intelligence and other sophisticated techniques to target banking customers.

He said that phishing attacks and fake banking portals were being used to harvest customers’ login credentials, creating a growing risk of account takeovers.He said banks had therefore begun introducing stricter security protocols to counter such attempts and protect customers’ funds.

Dissanayake said some of the new measures, including restricting internet banking access to pre-registered or trusted browsers and requiring additional verification steps, could initially appear inconvenient to customers.

However, she said such additional security layers were essential safeguards against automated cyberattacks.

“These additional security layers act as automated ‘circuit breakers’, interrupting fraudulent access attempts before scammers can gain control of an account and withdraw funds,” Dissanayake said.

She said customers seeking greater convenience and security should consider using their banks’ official mobile banking applications rather than accessing banking services through links or websites whose authenticity they could not verify.

Dissanayake said biometric authentication features such as Face ID and fingerprint verification provided an additional layer of protection when accessing official banking applications.

She said such applications could also reduce the risk of customers falling victim to URL spoofing and cloned banking websites.

“Whether you are using your phone at home or travelling abroad, biometric authentication through an official banking application provides a convenient additional layer of security,” she said.

Dissanayake stressed that the additional security checks and verification procedures introduced by banks were not intended simply to inconvenience customers but to protect their hard-earned money from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.

He urged banking customers to follow their banks’ security instructions, use only official banking applications and remain vigilant when receiving links or requests for banking credentials.

“Every additional security check, verification gate or system update introduced by a bank is ultimately intended to safeguard customers’ money from evolving global cyber threats,” Dissanayake said.

The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) yesterday appealed to the Indian High Commission in Colombo and the US Embassy to intervene in efforts to secure a pardon for Sivarasa Anojan, a Sri Lankan national sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia.

ITAK MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said a group of party MPs made the appeal during meetings with representatives of the two diplomatic missions on Wednesday (23).

Meanwhile, a group of Hindu devotees held a candlelight vigil outside the Colombo Fort Railway Station on Wednesday night, urging the authorities to take steps to spare the life of the young Sri Lankan.

The chief priest of the Borella Paththini Devalaya, S. Vinayagan Kurukkal, who participated in the protest, said they were appealing to both the Sri Lankan and Saudi Arabian governments to intervene to save Anojan.

Meanwhile, President’s Counsel Faizer Mustapha and President’s Counsel Upul Kumarapperuma have commenced legal efforts to secure Anojan’s release.As part of those efforts, the two lawyers travelled to the Maldives on Wednesday and met former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, seeking his intervention on behalf of the Sri Lankan national.

Mustapha said the appeal had been made to Nasheed because of the Maldives’ close relations with the Saudi Arabian Government.

The two lawyers are also expected to travel to Saudi Arabia in the coming days as part of efforts to secure Anojan’s release from the death sentence.