KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The country’s Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT) has warned that careless online habits are putting scores of Jamaicans and businesses at serious risk, as cybercrime mushrooms into a trillion-dollar global industry.
Addressing a post-Cabinet media briefing on Wednesday, the start of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Godphey Sterling, director of the CIRT, said. At the same time, technology has rapidly advanced, but the attitudes of many Jamaicans towards online security remain “dangerously casual”.
He cautioned that everyday mistakes such as weak passwords, oversharing on social media, and insecure data storage are giving cybercriminals easy access to sensitive information.“So for the general public, the idea is to stop being a cyber-delinquent, appreciate that you live in a digital environment, you’re a digital citizen, whether you’re a native or a tenant, and to ensure that those devices that you use are no longer the Nokia 3310s,” said Sterling.
“You carry your lives in your pockets. So, if you have to use it, then lock it and take it with you. For businesses, understand that data is your new currency. You must securely collect, store, and transmit that data, but you must also get rid of it demonstrably and securely when you no longer use it,” added Sterling.
He pointed out that many of the most serious breaches investigated by the CIRT were not the result of sophisticated attacks, but rather basic mistakes.
“When we look at some of the most egregious breaches that we have responded to, it comes down to misconfiguration of permanent security systems. What does that say to us? It’s either that the systems were not set up properly, either through the use of persons not qualified to do it, or just cutting corners. But in the end, your data was at risk, and when we look at our personal systems, it’s how we approach the digitally enabled world we live in,” he explained.
Highlighting the scale of the challenge, Sterling noted that Jamaica has just over three million daily Internet connections, with more than 70 percent accessed via mobile devices. He added that more than half of these connections originate from single IP addresses, indicating that many individuals are using multiple devices to go online.
He argued that these habits demonstrate how deeply Jamaicans are connected to the digital world, underscoring the need for greater caution in navigating it.
The CIRT director also highlighted the growing impact of smart devices, noting that the Internet of Things (IoT) is “always listening to you”, collecting and transmitting data to build user profiles.
“The smart doorbell, the smart door lock, the smart speaker, the smart fridge, the smart washer. For these things to be smart, they’re always listening to you. So even though you’re not giving it instructions, it is listening, it is digesting, it is transmitting so that it can build a profile and find an algorithm to serve you better, but where does that data go?”
October is being recognized globally as Cyber Security Month.
JaCIRT will undertake a series of awareness and training activities to enhance local cyber protection.
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