Guyana Times published a post on March 18, 2019, about Cybersecurity.
Guyana Times gave a voice to concerned citizen for the cyber space of the country amidst a series of ransomware incidents target at large organizations.
Key points:
- Both private and public organizations in developing countries face threats from our dependence on the technological platforms which are designed to allow enhancement of business and communication globally.
- One such instance is Guyana Power & Light Inc. (GPL) which was the victim of a ransomware attack. While the GPL Information Systems team responded quickly with proper incidence response procedures, such a threat should never have occurred in the first place. The issue of ransomware occurs when a network defences were insufficient which resulted in penetration of the network.
- In January 2017, the Guyana Water Inc. suffered a similar attack which resulted in downtime of services. The Guyana National Computer Incident Response Team (GN-CIRT), in that very year, issued a cybersecurity alert warning of ransomware, which exploited a vulnerability in the Windows Operating System.
- The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report in 2019 indicated a 20 per cent reduction in worldwide ransomware attacks for 2018, since 2017, when enterprise ransomware attacks had surged 12 per cent, suggesting a revolution in crypto virology.
- Most ransomware attacks are the result of negligence of a network administrator’s negligence, failing to implement security and alerting platforms or inadequate systems. IT administrators are urged to assess the risk at every level of staff to ensure coverage and implementation of usage policies.
- Organizations are urged to invest significantly in ensuring that their IT personnel are trained and implement mechanisms which constantly keep security best practices in check. Such detailed Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) which include identifying risks and mitigative measures.
Reference: guyanatimesgy.com
Contributed by: Contributed by Kyle Sterling from Jamaica. Kyle is a member of our Caribbean Cyber Support Team (CCST) initiative on Discord. CCST is a collaborative group on the Discord platform for Caribbean people interested in IT, from beginners to experts.
If you’re from the Caribbean, learn more and join the group by visiting caribbeancst.org.