Jamaicans urged to remain vigilant despite sharp reduction in attempted cyberattacks

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Head of the Jamaica Cyber Incident Response Team (JaCIRT) (Ret’d) Lieutenant Colonel Godfrey Sterling addressing the post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

JAMAICA recorded a sharp decline in attempted cybersecurity attacks in the first six months of this year but head of Jamaica Cyber Incident Response Team (JaCIRT) (Ret’d) Lieutenant Colonel Godfrey Sterling is warning that the country has to remain vigilant.

Addressing a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday, Sterling noted that there was a 78 per cent reduction in attempted cyberattacks between January and June this year.

“This saw the attempted number of cyberattacks in the first half of 2024 decreasing from just over 19 million last year in the same period of time to just over four million this year. We ended 2023 with just over 43 million attempted attacks; this year we are hoping to end under 10 million attacks if the trend continues,” said Sterling.

“This is supported and borne on the back of 62 per cent reduction in the number of vulnerable IP [Internet protocol] addresses that we are monitoring on a daily basis and on a daily basis we monitor…just over seven million IP addresses in the .jm space,” added Sterling as he noted that October is recognised globally as Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

This year Jamaica is observing the month under the theme, ‘Building resilience, securing our nation’, and the JaCIRT head said efforts will be made to educate all Jamaicans, including children, about how to protect themselves in cyber space.

Sterling noted that ransomware, a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid, remains a major threat around the world and Jamaica is no different.

“In a recent symposium it was said that Jamaica, as a developing State, has to face real-world challenges that the developed world faces with much less of a budget and resources that we have to bring to bear on these challenges. The cyber criminals do not look at Jamaica as a developing country, they look at Jamaica as a target that is there.

“Given that the Caribbean region is target rich and very much behind the eight ball in terms of how the development of cybersecurity has progressed, they have pivoted from North America and Europe…because of the crackdown by the US and its allies and [are targeting this region],” said Sterling.

Responding to questions from Gleaner reporter Sashana Small later in the briefing, Sterling rejected claims by some experts that the reduction in attacks on Jamaica is not necessarily a good thing as it could indicate that the cyber criminals are becoming more targeted in their approach.

“If the reduction in the number of attacks happened in a silo and the number of vulnerabilities as well as the attitude in the ecosystem were not trending in the same direction, then I would agree with some of the experts you have been speaking with, but when we take all the matrix together what we are seeing is a trend in the right direction.

“Now, it is true, the attacks have become more sophisticated and more targeted but they are fewer in number and what it means is that we have more resources to apply, one, to the recovery effort; two, to ensure that the lessons learnt are properly shared and implemented… and that also should help to keep the numbers trending down.

“What you find, particularly in Jamaica, is that even though we may be a soft target, there is enough expertise being used…in order to protect the digital assets,” declared Sterling.

JaCIRT is a division under the Office of the Prime Minister established to deliver on the mandate outlined in the Government’s National Cyber Security Strategy of 2015 to address matters regarding cyber threats and appropriate responses.

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