The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamas information technology provider yesterday said the government is taking the “right steps” towards improved cyber security, but added: ‘It’s about all of us.”

Scott MacKenzie, Cloud Carib’s chief executive, told Tribune Business: “We have to remember that security is just not one thing. It’s just not one thing that you do and you’re secure. It’s an evolving practice that has to happen every single day.”

Referring to the different ways that software and computer systems can be compromised, Mr MacKenzie pointed to speculative e-mails with attachments that human resource managers and departments may receive on a daily basis from prospective job applicants.

These attachments may carry malware, and leave recipients susceptible to phishing attacks that can compromise a security network, and Mr MacKenzie said: “This is where training and education can come into play here.

“So it’s education, awareness, things like the security operations project that the government is doing in conjunction with the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) and things like that. Security, at the end of the day, is about all of us.”

The government entered into a partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in February this year to develop and implement the National Cyber Security Emergency Response Team, in a bid to combat the numerous hacks into public sector entities over the last several years.

Mr MacKenzie added: “So when people get e-mails, for example, one of the biggest things right now is phishing. That’s the attack that most hackers are using as they’re sending out e-mails. So a good example is with a human resources department. Their job is to open resumes and review them, and if someone attaches a piece of malware to a PDF, your job as the human resources person accepting those resumes is to review it.

“So now you’ve infected the human resources desktop or your laptop with a piece of malware. So it’s an always ongoing, ever evolving practice that has to always stay up with whatever the hackers are doing. Education is not just for the government, it is for all of us. We all have to do more. We have to take ownership for everything.”

Pointing to a recent $600m cryptocurrency theft, where hackers penetrated the Poly Network platform that is used to connect different blockchains together so they can communicate with one another, Mr MacKenzie added: “The hackers did it just to prove that the network was vulnerable and insecure. They ended up giving back $260m but kept the rest.

“Cyber security is really something we have to work hard to maintain, and I think in education we all have to do a better job of it, but right now the challenge with cyber security is that I have seen a lot of online events. Even if they are being forced on us due to COVID-19, there are a lot of these practices that can be managed a little better.

“Some of these events may be better off being held in person as they are more tactile, and it’s easier to show people and help them understand and remember things over something like a Zoom meeting. Everybody is getting tired of these Zoom meetings now.”

Pointing to the future, Mr MacKenzie noted the “fourth industrial revolution” being discussed at venues such as the World Economic Forum and the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD). He said: “They are saying the fourth industrial revolution is digitisation, and now they’re saying that digitisation is going to be followed with - or be in parallel with - the fifth industrial revolution, and that is with personalisation.

“All of these things are being driven by the World Bank, World Economic Forum and OECD. It’s just that COVID-19 accelerated everything. So what would have taken ten years will probably be 2025 or before 2030, and all of the things that would have taken until 2040 would have already happened.”

Applauding the government on its digitisation agenda, Mr MacKenzie added: “The Bahamas is working really hard as a country to digitise everything, which to me is at the forefront as well as beautiful and amazing. Then another thing is we’ve got the Central Bank that is working with the digital currency, so The Bahamas is taking a real leadership role and that is beautiful to see.”