Technology Minister Appeals To MDAs To Protect Their Data

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Hon. Daryl Vaz, is appealing to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as well as private-sector entities to invest in the relevant security technologies to protect their data.

Making his contribution to the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on May 10, Minister Vaz further encouraged the entities to invest in user education and training.

The Minister said it is estimated that every 39 seconds, a cyberattack takes place.

“Within the Jamaican context, online threats such as ransomware, targeted attacks, malicious spam emails, malicious URLs and scams were the most significant issues faced during the fiscal year, which have been addressed by the Jamaica Cyber Incident Response Team (JaCIRT),” he said.

He added that these threats are reasoned to be on the rise due to adjustments made by MDAs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resultant work-from-home requirements.

Mr. Vaz informed that 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 said the JaCIRT has embarked on public-awareness initiatives to educate targeted groups on cybersecurity-related issues. He said these initiatives have led to the direct engagement of more than 80 entities over the course of the financial year.

Additionally, the ‘Early Warning System’ implemented with the assistance of the Organization of American States (OAS), has allowed JaCIRT the capability of seeing attacks in real time, monitoring the activities of attackers and responding to these accordingly.

Mr. Vaz said this facility provides invaluable insight into attacks, which are used to provide assistance in reducing the likelihood of recurrence and shortening response times.

“As it stands, however, only a few organisations are party to the system. I am appealing, yet again, for MDAs to do what is necessary to protect their information,” he said.

Providing an update on the Cybercrimes Act, 2015, Mr. Vaz said work is being done by various stakeholders to review the submissions that have been made.

“This is with the intention to make recommendations to the Parliament in short order – recommendations that acknowledge the gravamen of the impact of cybercrimes but equally recognise our international commitments and the need for our law to remain as technologically relevant as possible,” he said.