The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian businesses were yesterday warned that they are effectively "laying out the red carpet" for hackers if they do not take cyber threats seriously.

Mike Maura, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation's (BCCEC) chairman, while closing out its Cyber Security Forum yesterday, said businesses should not take cyber threats lightly as some of the world's largest companies have fallen victim to such crimes.

Calling on the Bahamian private sector to reduce and mitigate vulnerabilities, he added: "It's happening to the biggest companies in the world with the largest budgets for ICT."

Mr Maura, also the Arawak Port Development Company's (APD) chief executive, said the port operator itself had been faced with a ransomware attack in 2011. "We were very fortunate that it was limited to one PC and not tied to the broader network," he said.

"It could have been disastrous, but it did cause us to wake up and to stop and look at what kind of policies and procedures we had internally."

APD has used the services of CQURE, a tech company headquartered in Poland, which offers specialised services in IT (information technology, infrastructure, security, business applications, consulting and advisory services.

Ken Wong, CQURE's chief technology officer (CTO), who addressed the forum yesterday, said many companies are being hit with ransomware, a technique that uses a computer virus to hold data hostage.

"A lot of companies are getting hit, and getting their data encrypted. A lot of IT departments do not know how to handle this. A lot of companies go into panic mode when it hits and don't know what to do," said Mr Wong.

He stressed the importance of security awareness, and urged companies to be "proactive instead of reactive" when dealing with cybersecurity.