Gov't data vulnerable to cyberattack

Jermaine Francis, Staff Reporter

With sensitive top-secret data becoming more susceptible to hackers in cyberspace around the world, the Jamaican Government could easily become the next victim of this global threat.

Julian Robinson, state minister in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining and chairman of Parliament's joint select committee on cybercrimes, said as it stands now, the Government's internal communications are not under the strongest protection.

In fact, Robinson said it was difficult to indicate the number of occasions on which hackers have managed to access the Government's database in the past.

"Part of the challenge is that we can't say the full extent of the challenges we face," he noted.

Robinson said there was neither a centralised area in which these breaches are noted and stored nor a body responsible for dealing with such violations.

However, he is expecting this to change with the implementation of a Cyber Emergency Response Team.

He said the team "would be in a position, if any major Government agency or ministry is the target of a cyberattack, that we have a coordinated way to respond".

Robinson noted that the team would be working in tandem with the Cybercrimes Taskforce to execute the Government's cybersecurity strategy and policy.

jermaine.francis@gleanerjm.com