Over the past several weeks, attention on cybercrime and cybersecurity appears to have increased. Is this a signal that Caribbean countries and the region as a whole are readying themselves to tackle these issues?<\/em><\/p>\n

Whether planned or by coincidence, over the past few weeks there has been a marked increase in the conversations on cybercrime and cybersecurity across the Caribbean. The uptick appeared to have coincided with the Caribbean Internet Governance Forum, organised by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and held in Cura\u00e7ao during the week of \u00a09 September, which was followed soon thereafter by the Carib Network Operators\u2019 Group (CaribNOG) meeting in Belize.<\/p>\n

To their credit, the CTU and CaribNOG have been sensitising policy makers to key cybercrime and cyber security issues for the last couple of years, and have forged strategic partnerships with a few international agencies for technical support. Although it appeared that their efforts had fallen on deaf ears, they might be getting some traction after all. In recent months, and as reflected in our weekly ICT\/tech new roundups<\/i><\/b><\/a>, countries in the region, both individually and collectively, seem to be having more discussions on cybercrime and cybersecurity, but more importantly and to varying degrees, might be beginning to take some action.<\/p>\n

For example, countries have been having their own local meetings to discuss the topics, as well as to advance discussions on specific systems, such as Internet Exchange Points, which are a critical component of any digital security and sovereignty framework that is being considered. Further, plans are underway in Jamaica to establish a Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT), which is being done with technical support from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), among others, and should be operational by year end.<\/p>\n

Additionally, other noteworthy initiatives that support country-level and regional efforts has been the establishment of the Caribbean Cyber Security Center (CCSC), which offers services including, penetration testing, and vulnerability and risk assessments. Over the past several months, the CCSC has been gaining visibility across the region, and recently, it launched THINKCLICKSURF,<\/em> which provides guidance to children, parents and teachers on being safe online.\u00a0 Although a wealth of tips are available on the THINKCLICKSURF website<\/a>, the CCSC team can also develop customised programmes, which so far, Cura\u00e7ao has invited them to roll out.<\/p>\n