The Antillean Media Group published an article on August 15, 2015, about the Caribbean’s concern for cyber security being long overdue. Here’s a quick summary just for you.
Despite the 48% increase in attacks internationally, resulting in high remedial and reputational costs for affected businesses and governments, indicated by Pricewaterhouse Cooper’s Global State of Information Security Survey in 2015, the Caribbean remains dreadfully unprepared, with governments and parts of the private sector refusing to take the matter seriously until they are attacked.
Key points:
- Attacks on St Vincent’s and The Bahamas’ government websites in early 2015, exposed not only the lack of sufficient protection inside government portals but also the presence of old IT systems and software with the capacity, to have disrupted the internal communications of these governments, according to experts.
- The occurrences followed earlier reports of attacks on Jamaican government sites in 2014, on a number of OECS countries in 2012, and on sensitive government servers in Trinidad and the Dominican Republic, as well as on a series of prominent Caribbean companies.
- Defenders may soon find themselves short of the support needed to prevent threats, considering the attacks continue to escalate in severity and complexity, concentrating not just on destroying vital infrastructure but also on stealing sensitive information that could be used in the future.
- The OAS has mentioned the problem is taking on dimensions that go beyond past breaches of national security, unlawful conduct, or malicious behaviour.
- There needs to be rapid development in reputable Caribbean companies with access to international expertise capable of conducting vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, compliance, and security awareness training.
- As far as the law is concerned, few Caribbean nations have any, let alone modern policies against cyber-crimes. All Caribbean jurisdictions need the necessary legislation, regulations or infrastructure to overcome cyber-crimes, making it punishable to break the network.
- Experts say potential attacks will gradually hit targets of opportunity in areas where large amounts of money are circulating electronically for tax efficiency or profit.
Reference: antillean.org
Contributed by: Sabrina Shim from Jamaica. Sabrina is a member of the WISC Discord group from the G5 Cyber Security Foundation Ltd. Learn more about WISC (Women in InfoSec Caribbean) at wiscaribbean.org. WISC is a non-profit initiative supporting Caribbean women and girls to develop a career in Information Security.