HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC – Less than 24 hours after Premier David Burt said the government would initiate a full inquiry into the cyberattack that severely hampered government information systems in September, the opposition is calling instead a Commission of Inquiry.
Burt had told reporters that, in his view, “ the best place for this to be will be via the parliamentary process so that government backbenchers and opposition members can participate.”
But Opposition Leader Jarion Richardson has poured cold water on the Premier’s announcement, saying instead, a Commission of Inquiry is the best way to deal with the matter.
“The people of Bermuda deserve to know the full scope of how the attacker occurred and, most importantly, how it can be prevented from happening again. We have heard how people have been seriously impacted, and the full story cannot go undisclosed and unresolved,” he told the Royal Gazette newspaper.
Richardson said that the opposition had already called for an independent investigation and has now renewed that call in the wake of Pemier’s promise to have legislators conduct a “full inquiry.”
Premier Burt told reporters that he would discuss the matter with the Speaker of the House and the Leader of the Opposition and work with them to establish an appropriate parliamentary committee to investigate this matter.
But Richardson said that putting the attacker inquiry into Parliament would make it subject to political manipulation, and Bermuda would only know part of the story.
“This Parliament is not equipped to inquire about this nature after being hobbled by this government.
“The People’s House has been persistently disregarded through diminished chambers and offices, sudden meeting dates, rushed legislation, and pushing the boundaries of parliamentary procedure,” he said, adding, “The attacker inquiry must be independent to get to the bottom of things.”
Earlier this week, Premier Burt told reporters that an investigation into the cyberattack had found circumstantial evidence that personal data may have been exfiltrated.
But Burt said that the authorities are still unclear if the hackers had obtained personal information on the government’s computer systems.
“The forensic review of the attack and its impact continues, but there has not been a forensic confirmation of the exfiltration of data,” he told reporters.
“Even though this has not been forensically confirmed, there is circumstantial evidence that data may have been taken, and we’re working on that assumption with the Government’s privacy team to ensure that impacted parties can be notified,” he added.
Late last month, Premier Burt told reporters that any data held on government files did not appear to be compromised, even though he acknowledged that “a significant amount of data on our systems.”
During the latest news conference, Premier Burt would not provide details of the extent or nature of any personal information that may have been exposed to the hackers.
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