The Jamaica Observer posted an article on March 15, 2021, about Cyber Security being Jamaica’s next big challenge. Below are some key highlights:
- Since the start of the pandemic buzz phrases such as digital transformation, digitisation, and pivoting to digital platforms have been bandied about as the solution to maintaining a balance between lives and livelihoods
- As with all things, the economic power that can be wielded with increased digitisation comes with great responsibility — ensuring that sensitive personal information of users remains protected
- The Andrew Holness administration has, since the outset, expressed the intent to modernise the public sector, in part, through the digitisation of certain manual processes to increase efficiency. If this is ever to be achieved it must be underpinned by a strong underlying cybersecurity infrastructure; one that assures citizens that their information will remain safe from unauthorised access
- Despite the complexity of cybersecurity solutions deployed by governments across the globe, ever so often we read about countries, both rich and poor, becoming the target of concerted actions by sophisticated hackers
- A few examples include the recent attempt to attack military-run government websites in Myanmar and Russian attacks on the software used by the US State Department and Department of Homeland Security
- It would appear that the JamCOVID-19 platform is not the first to be targeted by parties with unclear intentions; and, surely, won’t be the last
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