Regional collaboration being urged to fight cybercrime
Published:Thursday | October 3, 2019 | 9:14 AM
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) John Curran is suggesting that Caribbean countries collaborate to better fight cybercrime.
Curran said issues relating to cybercrime are extremely difficult to solve globally because of the inherent nature of the Internet regarding its deficiency and accountability.
“While there is no locality to the Internet and it is not possible to know where an IP address is coming from without looking it up after the fact, it is true that a lot of business is local. A lot of folks do use their computers to talk to their local businesses [and] they do use it to talk to local government [representatives] to fill out a form. So individual governments can take that part of the problem and try to make it easier or governments can work together,” he added.
The CEO was speaking during the Cybersecurity and Public Safety Symposium, which was held from September 30 to October 1 at the Jamaican Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.
Curran noted that there is an initiative in the Caribbean for a single information technology space that could eventually provide better cooperation between governments and allow for better identification in the event of cybersecurity incidents or threats.
For her part, Director of the Jamaica Cyber Incident Response Team in the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr Moniphia Hewling urged Jamaicans to be more aware and responsible on the Internet and safeguard their personal information.
“We are now encouraging individuals to be proactive in protecting their data and to realise that they have a responsibility. Cybersecurity is real, it is present, it is here, it is no longer a foreign [phenomenon],” she emphasised.
The two-day symposium, which was jointly organised by the ministry, ARIN and the Caribbean Network Operators Group, marked the beginning of month-long activities in Jamaica to commemorate International Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October.
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