Opposition Spokesman on ICT and Digital Society Development, Dr. Andrew Wheatley, is today calling on the Government to immediately advise the nation of the state of its cyber security, and of the recent breaches that have resulted in the defacement or total unavailability of numerous Government websites.
He also called on the government to immediately enact the recent recommendations for amendments to the 'Cyber Crimes Act' which has been languishing for months, to finalize a national Cyber Security Strategy, and to accelerate the formation of our own 'Cyber-Incident Response Team' (CIRT) whose function it is to monitor and address incidents of this nature.
Dr. Wheatley said: “The Opposition is seriously concerned that a number of government websites have been hacked over the past few weeks in what appears to have been a sustained and calculated effort by criminals, but the nation has heard nothing from the government regarding these attacks or its response.”
He continued " The scope of this latest attack is very disturbing because it has occasioned the defacement or complete unavailability of over 15 key government sites, including those of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy & Mining, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Tourism and eGov Jamaica Ltd. to name a few.
The government must inform the nation of the extent, scope and impact of these serious cyber security breaches and we must be told whether any critical or sensitive information was compromised as a result of the attacks.” Dr Wheatley said: “This situation not only brings into sharp focus the realities that exist in our increasingly connected world, but underscores the need to ensure that effective measures are implemented to mitigate against these undesirable activities. The government needs to update the nation on these security breaches but must also act to ensure that the government's websites are better protected and that Jamaica has the legislation, strategies and teams it needs to function in today's world."
