Blog Crime Reports

The Supreme Court has cautioned and discharged a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Michael Kpessa-Whyte who was cited for contempt for calling the court ‘stupid’.

The University of Ghana lecturer was summoned to appear before the court today to show why he should not be punished for the comments which sought to bring disaffection to the court and denigrate its reputation.

The summons issued by the court indicated that Prof. Kpessa-Whyte on May 19, 2023, made disparaging comments on his Twitter handle, including one which read: “The highest Court of the Land has been turned into a ‘Stupid Court.”

The comments were made two days after the Supreme Court directed Parliament to expunge the name of now disqualified Member of Parliament for Assin North, James Gyekye Quayson, from its records, declaring his election null and void.

The summons also listed among others, comments such as “They have succeeded in turning a Supreme Court into a Stupid Court. Common – sense is now a scarce commodity.”

“A major element in the death of democracies is partisanship in the delivery of justice.

Our judges need lessons in political philosophy and ethics. Time will tell.”

The charge which indicated that his tweet had scandalised, ridiculed and prejudiced the court was read to him and pleaded his guilty although he had previously pleaded not guilty, and “guilty with explanation.”

A 5-member panel of the court presided over by Justice Mariama Owusu and assisted by Justices Avril Lovelace Johnson, Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Samuel Asiedu and George Koomson convicted him on his own plea.

His lawyer, Dr. Justice Srem Sai, said the convict has regretted his action and subsequently pulled down the tweet and issued a public apology immediately the issue was brought to his attention.

“It is our humble prayer in all humility to plead for mercy, clemency from your Lordship’s seat of justice. We also are undertaking that such a sad and regrettable occurrence will not ever happen again,” his counsel added.

The court in its judgement cautioned and discharged him of the offence.

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/FBI-knows-you-and-will-come-after-you-US-Prosecutor-to-Hajia-4Reall-s-team-members-1774727

At least 49 Nigerians have been arrested for alleged human trafficking syndicate and cyber-crime related activities in Accra.

The exercise was organised by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service.

The suspects who were made up of 47 males and two females are aged between 18 and 34 years.

About 70 laptop computers, two saloon cars, 51 mobile phones, nine internet modems and other gadgets were recovered from their hideout during the operation.

The head of Public Relations of EOCO, Ms FaustinaLartey, disclosed this in a press release issued and sighted by the Ghanaian Times yesterday.

She said the suspects who were arrested in the first week of this month had been involved in human trafficking and cyber-crime related activities.

Ms Larteysaid following the arrest and subsequent screening of the suspects, it came to light that 45 of the individuals were victims of human trafficking while four were the traffickers.

The rescued victims havebbeen repatriated to Nigeria to be reunited with their families while the four traffickers namely; Godstine Omoruyi, Junior Nosa Omoruyi, Marvelous Omoruyi and EvbuomwanIdowu have been arraigned.

Their arrest followed intelligence obtained by the Office to the effect that some young Nigerians had been trafficked into the country.

“The said victims were lured into the country with the promise of securing jobs but were subsequently forced to engage in cyber-crime activities upon their arrival in the country,” she added.

The traffickers also resorted to various forms of physical torture and abuse to coerce their victims into subjection. 

Source:ghanaiantimes.com.gh

The Vice President,Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, yesterday launched the Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre (FICSOC) to protect the industry from cyber attacks.

The objective of the FICSOC project initiated by the BoG as part of the requirements in the 2018 Cyber and Information Security Directive, and implemented by Virtual InfoSec Africa, local information communication technology company, is to promote a safer digital financial industry.

FICSOC is established as a threat intelligence sharing platform, fully funded by the BoG to coordinate cyber security efforts within the banking and financial industry.

Specifically, FICSOC is to support financial sector players to build cyber security resilience against cyber and information security threats.

Speaking at the launch of the FICSOC Centre, located at the BoG General Service Complex, at Spintex in Accra, the Vice President Bawumia said the facility was to enhance cyber resilience in the Ghanaian banking and financial industry.

He said the edifice and its infrastructure was one of the first funded and owned by a Central Bank in Africa, and that was a remarkable feat by the BoG, indicating that very soon other Central Banks in Africa would come to the BoG to understudy its approach to cyber security defence of the financial sector.

Dr Bawumia said it formed part of BoG’s efforts at strengthening the cybesecurity landscape to build a robust banking and financial industry and commended the BoG for establishing the FICSOC.

He said that over the years the BoG had invested heavily to ensure that the digital financial industry remained safe, and the launch of the FICSOC marked another milestone to firm up information security controls in reducing the impact of cyber threats on the financial and banking sector.

“What we are launching today is massive and ground-breaking and state-of-the –art infrastructure. The facility will become one of the top national security facilities in the country and contribute to improving cyber security issues among financial sector institutions,” DrBawumia stated.

He said the use of digital technologies continued to transform business models of financial institutions, with new revenue and value producing opportunities.

“While these digital technologies support banking and financial services, the underlying security vulnerabilities imposed key cyber risks among those institutions. Cyber security risks may impair operational capabilities and threatened the viability of financial institutions and the contagion of cyber risks in the financial system is heightened by the extent of the interconnectedness and any serious cyber-attack could threaten the stability of the financial system,” he stressed.

The Governor of the BoG, Dr Ernest Addison, said the project was to create a cyber security environment for banks and financial institutions, adding that the facility would help combat the increasing cyber security threat and risks to the country.

He said all the 23 regulated banks had been connected with the FICSOC and through the facility BoG could send reports/alerts in the form of threat intelligence to the banks to improve their incident response mechanisms.

Dr Addison further said the project would help provide real-time visibility into cyber threats and attacks targeting the banking sector.

Credit: Ghanaiantimes.com.gh

Ghanaian forex trader, Bright Kojo Onipayede has sued Albert Nathaniel Hyde popularly known as Bongo Ideas for defamation. 

Kojo Forex as he is widely called claims that Bongo Ideas published some statements about him on Twitter, damaging his reputation.

He is, therefore, demanding a compensation of 1 million Ghana cedis and a perpetual injunction restraining Bongo Ideas from making any further defamatory statements about him.

Giving more details in the lawsuit which he shared on his Twitter handle, Kojo Forex said an unqualified apology must also be rendered on social media and the defamatory tweets made retracted.

In April this year, Kojo Forex had sent a stern warning to the blogger, after Bongo Ideas went on a Twitter rant about him.

Among other things, Bongo had alleged that “Forex trading alone did not get you these things. You do other shady business.”

Again, he claimed that “the FX thingy is just a small part of the secretive online business empire (I will explain later) he runs. His profits from FX, as he makes it seem, do not come because he is a genius in the game. There are oldgees in the game who will tell you that he is a liar.

“You will soon be disappointed that FX is not a get-rich-quick-scheme. Only the Ponzi schemers make it seem so, which he is.”

These allegations were refuted by Kojo Forex, who claimed that the blogger was attacking him because he refused to mentor him.

The social media banter between the two ended with a threat from Kojo Forex to drag Bongo to court to prove the claims made against him, hence the current lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Bongo Ideas is known to troll celebrities on Twitter with the likes of Nana Aba Anamoah, Serwaa Amihere, Asamoah Gyan, Shatta Wale, Fella Makafui, Black Sherif and others constantly getting attacked by him.

Find a copy of the court document below:

Source: myjoyonline.com

It appears popular Ghanaian socialite cum musician, Mona Faiz Montrage, popularly known as Hajia4Reall may not go down alone if she’s found guilty of fraud in a $2 million romance scam case currently ongoing in the United States.

Hajia4Reall, who was arrested in the United Kingdom and extradited to the US on May 12, 2023, to face six charges, has pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan federal court.

According to Ghana’s Financial Intelligence Centre (IFC), which is working in conjunction with INTERPOL and FBI on the case, all persons within the social and business network of the suspect are now persons of interest in the investigation.

Hajia4Reall is known to particularly have many associates in both entertainment and business circles in Ghana, and was an ambassador for some business brands.

The Deputy Manager of IFC, Shaun Henry Osei, made the disclosure in an interview with Accra-based Starr FM.

“Obviously, she’s not going to be working alone, she’s going to be working in a network. The evidence that you have access to will actually lead you to be able to find out who her greater network is and obviously, if you find her greater network, by instinct you will want to look at those people because then they become persons of interest.

The FIC is Ghana’s national centre for the receipt and analysis of suspicious transaction reports and other information relevant to establish offences of money laundering or terrorist financing and proliferation financing (ML/TF&P) and disseminating actionable intelligence to competent authorities.

The centre is appealing to the public to volunteer relevant information on possible financial crimes for them to take the necessary actions.

“You can report to the FIC for starters. We receive reports from accountable institutions, from individuals so you can make a report and send it via mail and you can even bring it personally. Some of these young guys we see, I know most have been attributed to fraud but some are into very legitimate business. They are into forex trade and other business… Forex trade, I’m not certain what the law says on it, but what I can say is that when it comes to crypto and other things I think as a country we don’t yet have a definitive position on that per what the Bank of Ghana is saying and usually when there’s space like that people are likely to explore.”

The 30-year-old model appeared in Manhattan federal court on Monday, May 15 for her alleged involvement in a series of romance schemes targeting older people who lived alone.

She’s set to be released on home detention to her aunt’s New Jersey residence in the coming days on a $500,000 bond with GPS tracking via an ankle monitor, her lawyer and the prosecutor’s office have confirmed.

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, and Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced the unsealing of a six-count Indictment charging Hajia4Real for her role in a series of romance schemes and for laundering the proceeds of those scheme.

Mona 4Reall is a public figure who rose to fame as an influencer through her Instagram profile, under the username ‘Hajia4Reall,’ which at one point had approximately 3.4 million Instagram followers and was among the top 10 profiles with the most followers in Ghana.

She was arrested in the United Kingdom where she had gone to perform at the Ghana Music Awards UK edition and was en route to Ghana.

According to the court, from 2013 thereabout through to 2019, the influencer was a member of a criminal enterprise based in Ghana that committed a series of frauds against individuals and businesses in the United States, including romance scams that targeted mostly elderly victims.

The prosecution said Hajia received money from several victims of romance frauds whom members of the Enterprise tricked into sending money.

Among the false pretences used to induce victims to send money to Montrage were (i) payments to transport gold to the United States from overseas; (ii) payments to resolve a fake FBI unemployment investigation; and (iii) payments to assist a fake United States army officer in receiving funds from Afghanistan.

The court said in one incident with her victims, Hajia used her real name and spoke to the victim several times by phone, later sending the victim a tribal marriage certificate purporting to show that she and the victim had been married in Ghana.

“The victim sent Montrage approximately 82 wire transfers totalling approximately $89,000 to purportedly help with costs associated with Montrage’s father’s farm in Ghana.”

The court added that “In total, Montrage controlled bank accounts that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds from the Enterprise.”

Source: myjoyonline.com

The Accra Circuit Court One has handed down a judgment, sentencing a Nigerian citizen to eight years of imprisonment with hard labour for impersonating COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah on social media and defrauding unsuspecting individuals.

The convict, Bright Daniels, who was already serving a sentence at the Nsawam Prisons when he committed the crime, initially denied the offence but was found guilty after a full trial.

DSP Emmanuel Nyamekye, Deputy Superintendent of Police, provided the details of the case to the Court, presided over by Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah. The complainant in the case was COP Mrs Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, the former head of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and currently serving as the Executive Director of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).

The offender, Bright Daniels, is a Nigerian national who had previously served a seven-year jail term at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons.

The court was informed that Daniels' accomplice, Livinus Amadianaeze Ugwu, who is also a Nigerian and an ex-convict, is currently evading arrest.

According to DSP Nyamekye, in April 2021, COP Addo-Danquah discovered a fake Facebook Messenger account created in her name, using her picture, which was being used to extort money from a police personnel by falsely promising them opportunities to secure slots in United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) missions in Somalia and Sudan.

The individual behind the fake account contacted the victims and instructed them to make payments through a mobile money network.

One of the victims, Detective Chief Inspector Baffoe, paid GH¢10,000.00 to the provided number, which was later withdrawn by Bright Daniels.

Investigations revealed that the phone number used in the scam was traced back to the vicinity of the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons in the Eastern Region.

Further investigations led to the discovery that Daniels was the user of that phone number. The police conducted a search, during which they recovered a Samsung Galaxy A02 phone used by Daniels to communicate with Ugwu, as well as a Tecno feature phone that was used to receive money from Detective Chief Inspector Baffoe.

Forensic examination of the devices revealed that Daniels and Ugwu conspired to exploit the name and photograph of COP Addo-Danquah to fraudulently obtain money from police personnel, promising them slots in the United Nations and African Union Missions in Somalia.

Daniels was found to have obtained the SIM card with the number 02******* that was used to receive money from their victims.

After admitting to the offence, Daniels was charged and brought before the court following the completion of the investigations.

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Source:ghstandard.com

Socialite Mona 4Reall or Hajia4Reall has been extradited to the United States from the United Kingdom over her alleged involvement in a $2 million romance scam locally called ‘sakawa’ targeting older, single Americans.

According to federal prosecutors, the 30-year-old model appeared in Manhattan federal court on Monday, May 15 for her alleged involvement in a series of romance schemes targeting older people who lived alone.

The lady born Mona Faiz Montrage pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Hajia4Reall is set to be released on home detention to her aunt’s New Jersey residence in the coming days on a $500,000 bond with GPS tracking via an ankle monitor, her lawyer and the prosecutor’s office have confirmed.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced the unsealing of a six-count Indictment charging Hajia4Real for her role in a series of romance schemes and for laundering the proceeds of those schemes.  

Mona 4Reall is a Ghanaian public figure who rose to fame as an influencer through her Instagram profile, under the username “Hajia4Reall,” which at one point had approximately 3.4 million Instagram followers and was among the top 10 profiles with the most followers in Ghana.

She was arrested in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2022, and was extradited from the United Kingdom on May 12, 2023. 

Mona 4Real extradited to US over alleged $2m 'sakawa' (fraud) targeting older single Americans

She was presented before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty, to whom the case is assigned today.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll said, “We alleged today that Ms. Montrage participated in multiple romance scams – often targeting elderly victims – resulting in more than $2 million in fraudulent funds under her control. 

“Romance scams – especially those that target older individuals – are of major concern. The FBI will be tireless in our efforts to hold fraudsters accountable in the criminal justice system.”

According to the court, from at least in or about 2013 through in or about 2019, the Influencer was a member of a Criminal Enterprise based in Ghana that committed a series of frauds against individuals and businesses in the United States, including romance scams. 

The court said, “Many of the Enterprise’s romance scam victims were vulnerable, older men and women who lived alone. The Enterprise frequently conducted the romance scams by sending the victims emails, text messages, and social media messages that deceived the victims into believing that they were in romantic relationships with a person who had, in fact, a fake identity assumed by members of the Enterprise. 

“Once members of the Enterprise had successfully convinced victims that they were in a romantic relationship and had gained their trust, they convinced the victims, under false pretences, to transfer money to bank accounts the victims believed were controlled by their romantic interests, when, in fact, the bank accounts were controlled by members of the Enterprise.”

The prosecution said, “Montrage received money from several victims of romance frauds whom members of the Enterprise tricked into sending money. Among the false pretences used to induce victims to send money to Montrage were (i) payments to transport gold to the United States from overseas; (ii) payments to resolve a fake FBI unemployment investigation; and (iii) payments to assist a fake United States army officer in receiving funds from Afghanistan.

The court said in one incident with her victims she used her real name and spoke to the victim several times by phone. 

“Montrage later sent the victim a tribal marriage certificate purporting to show that Montrage and the victim had been married in Ghana. 

“The victim sent Montrage approximately 82 wire transfers totalling approximately $89,000 to purportedly help with costs associated with Montrage’s father’s farm in Ghana.”

It added that “In total, Montrage controlled bank accounts that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds from the Enterprise.”

Ghana will November ending host the maiden edition of the Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building (GC3B) in Greater Accra this year.

The GC3B is co-organized by the Global Forum of Cyber Expertise (GFCE), World Bank, Cyber Peace Institute, and the World Economic Forum and will be hosted by Ghana’s Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation through the Cyber Security Authority (CSA).

Focusing on the theme; “Cyber Resilience for Development”, the first edition of the GC3B seeks to secure and improve decision-makers’ awareness of cyber capacity building, strengthen global coordination efforts, and widen the pool of resources available.

The sessions at the 2023 GC3B will accordingly be on four pillars: Making International Development Cyber Resilient, Collaborating to Secure 

the Digital Ecosystem, Cyber Capacity Building for the Stability and Security of the Digital Environment, and Operationalizing Solutions.

The Cyber Security Authority in a statement today Thursday said the GC3B 2023 will bring together over 1,200 decision-makers, practitioners, and experts to catalyze global action to elevate and mainstream cyber resilience and capacity building in the international development agenda and in national development plans and investments as key enablers of sustainable development, inclusive economic growth, and social prosperity for all.

It is anticipated that at the end of the event, there will be an effective, sustainable, and inclusive stewardship of international cooperation for cyber-resilient development in the era of digital interdependence.

Among many others, it is expected that the Conference will trigger a high-level, demand-driven, Global Cyber Capacity Building Agenda for cyber-resilient international development, and demand-driven cyber resilience for development through the mobilization of different sources of financing from international development, the private sector, and philanthropy.

After successful deliberations, recommendations, and suggestions, the parties agreed to collaborate closely on key areas and provide each other with the necessary assistance for the performance of their functions.

The management of the Cyber Security Authority of Ghana (CSA) today Monday disclosed Google has cautioned the users of Gmail and YouTube against the recent emerging phishing attack that poses a threat to the users patronizing the services of the platforms.

A statement from the CSA said the hackers use ‘attack vectors’ to harvest the personal and sensitive data of unsuspecting individuals to perpetuate other malicious activities. On the modus operandi of the Gmail account phishing attack, the management disclosed the attackers are impersonating Google’s brand to send fake emails or pop-ups beginning with the subject line “Online Reward Program”.

They noted users who open emails or pop-ups are presented with the message “Congratulations You are a lucky Google user “Every 10 millionth search is reached worldwide; we will proclaim a lucky user to send out a thank-you gift. You are the lucky user.”

The message then requires users to click on a specific link to redeem their prize by entering their personal information, which is then harvested.

For YouTube Phishing Attacks, attackers are said to be impersonating YouTube channels to send fraudulent emails to unsuspecting users.

The emails, CSA said are sent from accounts using subject lines such as “YouTube policy change” and “The YouTube team sent you a video” and the email contains a link to the video or an attachment that leads to a fake login page where personal information is harvested or may contain malware.

According to the CSA, Google does not offer spontaneous prizes in the format described and does not reply with personal information as well as does not reply to or click on any link or attachment from an unsolicited sender.

The public is urged to verify any reward programmes via mainstream media outlets such as newspapers and websites before assuming they are true and be cautious of messages that create a sense of urgency or fear, prompting you to take immediate action or risk losing access to your account or any other offer.

The victims are encouraged to report the incident or attacks to the Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Incident Reporting Points of Contact (PoC) for reporting cybercrimes and seeking guidance and assistance on online activities.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall, Monday described as “unadulterated garbage” social media reports that the government intends to pass a law which will make it an offence, among other things, to record a fight, or to record the police, or to record someone without their permission. 

Marshall said that he had read “with some dismay”, a statement which has been circulated widely on social media, purporting to set out what is going to be enacted in what is referred to as a “Computer Misuse Bill”. 

“Unfortunately, Barbadians at home and abroad have taken what they have read as being accurate and have assumed that it is from a legitimate or knowledgeable source, and it has generated a significant amount of comment. 

“That statement alleges that the Government intends to pass a law which will make it an offence, among other things, to record a fight, or to record the police, or to record someone without their permission,” Marshall said. 

He said that the statement goes on to state persons must seek the permission of a Government Minister to record or post projects and that you also need the permission of Government Information Service to post things on social media. It suggests that to even record oneself will be an offence. 

“Let me call that what it is – unadulterated garbage.  It is mischief that has taken on a life of its own,” Marshall said, adding “we are bringing a new Cybercrime statute which will repeal the now outdated and inadequate Computer Misuse Act. 

“It will deal with a whole set of offences which are not now covered by the existing legislation – such as cyber-bullying, grooming children using computers, child pornography, revenge porn, cyber forgery, and fraud. It was researched and worked on by the Law Reform Commission, which is chaired by Sir David Simmons.” 

Marshall said that the Law Reform Commission has prepared a draft Bill, which now has to be considered by Cabinet and, if acceptable, will form the basis of further drafting by the Chief Parliamentary Counsel. 

“I have seen and read the draft Bill, and I assure Barbadians that none of the things set out in that mischievous statement that is being circulated is in the draft Cybercrime Bill, or is in the contemplation of the Government. 

“What is being circulated is certainly not in keeping with any policies of the Government,” the Attorney General added. 

With a huge global business surrounding the cybercriminal underground, the Caribbean region is developing systems to reduce cybersecurity threats to its public and private sector agencies. 

Speaking at the opening session of the two-day virtual Cyber Security 2023 Reducing Cyber Risks through Cyber Resilience seminar held on Tuesday, Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union(CTU) Rodney Taylor said that as organisations from both sectors become increasingly reliant on technology, connectivity is heightening the risk of cyber attacks.

“It’s important for businesses to develop strong cyber resilience to safeguard themselves against these threats. There are reputational risks as well as financial risks to the organisation in case of a breach and if there’s a loss of customer data. Businesses face the challenges of ever evolving threats, the sophistication of the threats, the fact that they’re state actors involved as well, not just teenagers in a basement, but this thing has grown in sophistication as there’s a huge global business around cybersecurity and ransomware. So there’s a lot of money to be made and hence criminals are working around the clock,” he said.

He told those attending the event that CARICOM has developed a cyber security action plan to build the resilience of member states against the risk of these attacks. However, he noted, that this is yet to be fully implemented.

Taylor said “With the support of the Organisation of American States (OAS) also, through the Inter American Committee Against Terrorism, the OAS and the ITU also support member states in the development of national strategies. That’s important because a national strategy for cybersecurity will also address the private sector and what they can do, what strategies can help build resilience in the private sector. We have Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Bahamas in Grenada, among others that have already developed strategies.

“In some cases, they haven’t been implemented unfortunately, but those strategies do exist.”

Taylor also revealed that at the legislative level through a project called HIPCAR with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) focus has been placed on developing legislation around cybercrime and cyber security, privacy and data protection, and lawful interception of communications. 

Delivering his remarks, Assistant Commission of the Virgin Islands Sidney Elskoe cautioned that the presence of computers ensures that every workplace is at risk of cyber attacks and insisted that employees be educated on how these attacks may present themselves.

“We can never take it for granted that our colleagues recognise what an attack even looks like. I recall an employee of mine coming into my office laughing about his computer cursor moving around the screen very hurriedly, opening and closing files without his input, and he did not realize that this was an attack. Of course I ran over and yanked the cord out of the wall to stop it, but this is one example,” he said.

Elskoe also said there could be long-term impacts from these attacks.

“In 2019, the USVI police department was hit with a ransomware attack that we are still recovering from. Not only did it create a financial burden for us, but it crippled our record system to a point where we could not fulfill our responsibilities. It goes without saying that we will do everything we can to prevent a recurrence of that event,” he stressed.

Calling the topic of cybersecurity highly relevant to Barbados in recent times, Business and Marketing Consultant for the Barbados Coalition of Service Industries Michelle Smith-Mayers warned that with cyber criminals constantly developing alternate ways to attack systems, the new normal cannot be business as usual. She insisted that businesses can no longer relegate cyber security to the technical support department.

“Cyber criminals are in the business of constantly developing new ways to attack businesses and often the consequences can be devastating. The best way to mitigate risks of cyber attacks is to educate yourself about cyber risks and how to avoid them. The new normal is not business as usual. We cannot be under the disillusionment that we can stay in our comfort zone, relegate cyber protection to our tech support without knowing how to retool the way we operate our businesses to protect against cyber attacks,” she said. (JB)

With a huge global business surrounding the cybercriminal underground, the Caribbean region is developing systems to reduce cybersecurity threats to its public and private sector agencies. 

Speaking at the opening session of the two-day virtual Cyber Security 2023 Reducing Cyber Risks through Cyber Resilience seminar held on Tuesday, Secretary General of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union(CTU) Rodney Taylor said that as organisations from both sectors become increasingly reliant on technology, connectivity is heightening the risk of cyber attacks.

“It’s important for businesses to develop strong cyber resilience to safeguard themselves against these threats. There are reputational risks as well as financial risks to the organisation in case of a breach and if there’s a loss of customer data. Businesses face the challenges of ever evolving threats, the sophistication of the threats, the fact that they’re state actors involved as well, not just teenagers in a basement, but this thing has grown in sophistication as there’s a huge global business around cybersecurity and ransomware. So there’s a lot of money to be made and hence criminals are working around the clock,” he said.

He told those attending the event that CARICOM has developed a cyber security action plan to build the resilience of member states against the risk of these attacks. However, he noted, that this is yet to be fully implemented.

Taylor said “With the support of the Organisation of American States (OAS) also, through the Inter American Committee Against Terrorism, the OAS and the ITU also support member states in the development of national strategies. That’s important because a national strategy for cybersecurity will also address the private sector and what they can do, what strategies can help build resilience in the private sector. We have Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Bahamas in Grenada, among others that have already developed strategies.

“In some cases, they haven’t been implemented unfortunately, but those strategies do exist.”

Taylor also revealed that at the legislative level through a project called HIPCAR with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) focus has been placed on developing legislation around cybercrime and cyber security, privacy and data protection, and lawful interception of communications. 

Delivering his remarks, Assistant Commission of the Virgin Islands Sidney Elskoe cautioned that the presence of computers ensures that every workplace is at risk of cyber attacks and insisted that employees be educated on how these attacks may present themselves.

“We can never take it for granted that our colleagues recognise what an attack even looks like. I recall an employee of mine coming into my office laughing about his computer cursor moving around the screen very hurriedly, opening and closing files without his input, and he did not realize that this was an attack. Of course I ran over and yanked the cord out of the wall to stop it, but this is one example,” he said.

Elskoe also said there could be long-term impacts from these attacks.

“In 2019, the USVI police department was hit with a ransomware attack that we are still recovering from. Not only did it create a financial burden for us, but it crippled our record system to a point where we could not fulfill our responsibilities. It goes without saying that we will do everything we can to prevent a recurrence of that event,” he stressed.

Calling the topic of cybersecurity highly relevant to Barbados in recent times, Business and Marketing Consultant for the Barbados Coalition of Service Industries Michelle Smith-Mayers warned that with cyber criminals constantly developing alternate ways to attack systems, the new normal cannot be business as usual. She insisted that businesses can no longer relegate cyber security to the technical support department.

• “Cyber criminals are in the business of constantly developing new ways to attack businesses and often the consequences can be devastating. The best way to mitigate risks of cyber attacks is to educate yourself about cyber risks and how to avoid them. The new normal is not business as usual. We cannot be under the disillusionment that we can stay in our comfort zone, relegate cyber protection to our tech support without knowing how to retool the way we operate our businesses to protect against cyber attacks,” she said. (JB)