MORE CYBER SECURITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS NEEDED IN THE CARIBBEAN

November 19, 2013

  The Caribbean must take definitive steps towards the creation and deployment of Cyber security Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) or run the risk of being isolated from an international tendency that is already developing at a rapid pace.
That’s the view of Shannon Curran, Cyber security Expert with the US-based Fortinet Inc, a global leader in high performance network security.

Speaking in St. Thomas on the importance of a Caribbean Cyber security Task Force while on her way to a series of strategic meetings in Jamaica, Curran commented that Cyber security is the new realm in which governments are forced to play a strategic part.  “Those who delay this decision may be faced with social unrest as more and more people are affected by cyber crime.”

“The Cyber security Emergency Response Team (CERT) will not only help protect local citizens, but will also play a major role in how the international community views and interacts with the country in question.”

“Those countries that have not yet taken the definitive steps for their own CERT or Cyber security Task Force should be seriously contemplating the initiative.”

Curran said the “good news is that tools exist to help governments build out the necessary Cyber security frameworks.”  Documentation and systems, she added, are available that will help governments understand how to properly use current technologies, processes and global collaboration to better protect themselves and their citizens.

Curran said that currently, there are over 200 CERTs in the world, with the vast majority being government-sponsored on a per country basis.  However, few have specific presence in the Caribbean.

“Among other things, an entity of these characteristics can help co-ordinate international efforts to eliminate specific problems such as child pornography or human trafficking, both of which have an external online presence. 

 Many citizens are victims of online fraud, from phishing attacks to data theft to love/sentimental misrepresentations (in which the victim is asked to send money or goods to a fictitious, attractive person that in reality doesn't exist)…all of these are internet-based crimes that require a specialized team to identify, mitigate and pursue on a penal level in order to protect the citizens of the country.”