Vaz urges data defence to counter online threats
Published:Wednesday | May 11, 2022 | 12:11 AM
Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Daryl Vaz has appealed to government ministries and agencies, as well as businesses, to shield themselves from online threats by investing in the relevant security technologies to protect their data.
Vaz is also urging investment in user education and training at a time when online threats directed at ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) have increased in the last fiscal year.
Making his presentation to the Sectoral Debate in Gordon House on Tuesday, Vaz said that there was concern about ransomware, targeted attacks, malicious spam emails and URLs, and scams.
He said that these threats have been addressed by the Jamaica Cyber Incident Response Team (JaCIRT).
According to Vaz, the cyberthreats were believed to be on the rise owing to adjustments made by MDAs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant work-from-home requirements.
“While some MDAs have pivoted as their needs dictated, others still have some work to do with respect to implementing security measures to protect their users and systems,” he told lawmakers.
Vaz said that JaCIRT has embarked on public awareness initiatives to educate targeted groups on cybersecurity issues. In the last financial year, JaCIRT carried out training and public education exercises at 80 entities.
The early-warning system implemented with the assistance of the Organization of American States, said Vaz, has allowed JaCIRT the capability of seeing cyberattacks in real time, monitoring and responding to the activities of attackers.
“This facility provides invaluable insight into attacks, which are used to provide assistance in reducing the likelihood of recurrence and shortening response times,” the science, energy and technology minister said.
However, Vaz noted that at present only a few organisations were party to the system.
Providing an update on the Cybercrimes Act, 2015, the technology minister said that lawmakers and technocrats have been working assiduously to review the submissions.
He said the committee established to review the proposed law was seeking to make recommendations to Parliament shortly.