Washington D.C/Bridgetown Barbados, March 2013:
Time is Up!! The opportunity Caribbean nations have had to get their cyber security houses in order, in both the public and private sectors is quickly coming to an ended. In recent weeks we have seen a spike in Cyber-attacks against both Caribbean private and public information infrastructures and websites. To assist Caribbean nations in this critical need we have assembled a team of Caribbean and U.S cyber security consultants under a new organization called the Caribbean Cyber Security Center.
The protection of Caribbean Public and Private Information and Communication Infrastructures is one of the most serious economic and security challenges facing our region. Our ability as nations to effectively ensure the Confidentiality, Availability and Integrity (CIA) of critical information infrastructures and ICT technology assets and information has significant economic and security implications for all of us. Key Caribbean Cyber Security Causes for Concern today are:
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Rapid growth in attack techniques and tools being used against the Caribbean which require little formal ICT knowledge to use successfully.
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Cybercrime has “now” become the primary motivation behind cyber-attacks in the Caribbean.
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Loses in Caribbean investor confidence in the banking, finance and tourism sectors can have a major adverse reputation and economic effect for years to come.
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Cyber Security Awareness across the region is lacking both at home and in the workplace.
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Limited regional home grown Cyber Security & Information assurance expertise, which has caused an over dependence on foreign cyber security consulting firms who really do not understand the people aspect to effective cyber security in our region, as part of the people, processes and technology paradigm.
By now it should be clear to many ICT leaders that not taking proactive action based on myths as listed below, is indeed not wise as it always cost more to recover from a hacking event, then it does to implement effective cyber security controls proactively:
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Hackers are not really interested in the Caribbean
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Cyber Crime is a problem for developed countries only
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Our ICT team is the best and told us at the last staff meeting that we are secure
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We don’t have anything hackers want
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Our only problems are viruses
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Firewalls are the answer to all things we need to be protected
The Caribbean Cyber Security Center was established in response to improve awareness of the threats and to help Caribbean public and private sector organizations navigate the people, policies, processes and technology aspects of Cyber Security. Our team brings some of the best experience which has worked at the forefront of the Global Cyber Security War in the US and the Caribbean which can quickly and cost effectively improve our regional cyber security posture. The first office of the Caribbean Cyber Security Center will operate out of Barbados to support the region. In addition we will provide an effective information assurance framework which is “cost effective” and sustainable which is not the case today. We are also mindful of the many cultural and business nuances of our region which is an advantage when working with the Caribbean Cyber Security Center. The most important thing that ICT public and private sector leaders must do “today” is to have us implement an Enterprise IT Risk Assessment framework.
Contact information
So based on this post, can I assume that its ok for me to post an advertisement for my company as well?
Some people “got something to say”
other people
“got to say something”.
@St.Georges Dragon
The quick answer to your question is no, we will continue to use our best judgement in these matters.