NewzKINGSTON, Jamaica—Minister with responsibility for Science, Technology and Special Projects, Dr Andrew Wheatley, has reiterated his call for stronger cyber-security measures across the country, noting that over 5.4 million attempts to breach Jamaica’s digital systems were recorded in the first quarter of this year. His call for greater awareness comes as his ministry launched its National Cybersecurity Awareness Month at a post- Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday. Wheatley noted that the number of attacks increased from 12 million in 2022 to 43 million in 2024 and over 49 million last year.
“The truth is that we cannot pretend the threat is small. We have to prepare ourselves as a real target. Government agencies have been hit by ransomware.
Institutions have seen key systems go dark for days. A breach on a major government digital platform exposed the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans. In fact, attackers now use artificial intelligence to find the weak door first,” Wheatley told the media briefing.
Wheatley argued that cyber attack on the country’s critical infrastructure deserves the same seriousness given to a natural disaster. “What it does for the country is more or less the same. Imagine when the grid goes down, the family in the dark cannot tell whether it is the wind or a code that did it because the impact, when the water pump stops and you are no longer able to access water in your pipes because the National Water Commission system was attacked.
Imagine the hospital that is crippled by an attack and you are not able to access critical patient information,” he said. The Jamaica Cybersecurity Standards Framework is now complete and the National Cyber Incident Response Plan is ready. We have secured some US$10 million through the Strengthen Cybersecurity in Jamaica Project and work is now on the way for a new cybersecurity law,” he said.
Making his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in June, Wheatley disclosed that the proposed legislation…
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