PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The former chief executive officer of the Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), Lisa Agard, is threatening legal action against her successor, Kent Western, after the Parliament Joint Select Committee(JSC) on State Enterprises was told on Monday that she may have misled Public Utilities Minister, Marvin Gonzales, regarding the cyber data breach that hit the company in October last year.
“I will be looking at those two hours of the Joint Select Committee and conferring with my counsel, who will advise me as to the appropriate legal action to take about this most egregious violation and defamation of my character,” Agard, an attorney, is quoted in the local media on Tuesday.
She said her only communique with Gonzales on the matter was via WhatsApp on November 1, when he requested information in response to the urgent question from the opposition in Parliament.
She said the communications department subsequently prepared a statement after liaising with the networks and IT department before sending it here.
“This CEO, the former CEO of TSTT, categorically denies that I provided any misleading or false information to the minister, or indeed to any stakeholder group throughout this process,” she said.
Last Friday, Gonzales, under threat by the opposition to have him referred to the Privileges Committee for misleading the House, told Parliament that he wanted to “unreservedly” apologize for stating on November 1, 2023, that there was no compromise of customers’ data during the TSTT cyberattack on October 30, 2023.
“As the line minister, I reported to the Parliament the contemporaneous information that I received in my official capacity, and at no time did I set out to mislead this House or the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
“The error in the statement of November 1st, 2023 is quite regrettable, and I unreservedly apologize to this House and the people of Trinidad Tobago,” he added.
On Monday, Opposition legislator Wade Mark sought an explanation as to who on TSTT’s executive management or board of directors had misled or mispresented information on the breach.
“Honourable member, the office of the CEO is responsible for all brand reputation statements. So, the CEO’s office is the one that issues any statement or authorizes any statements to the public or the board, especially in cases of a sensitive nature,” Western said in response, as Mark sought further clarification as to whether or not the communication read in the parliamentary record was provided by Agard, who was no longer with the company following the data breach.
“Yes, honorable member, I will state in my view that the office that would issue that instruction or that notification would be the office of the CEO,” Western said.
But Agard told the media that she had never provided Gonzales any misleading or inaccurate information due to the breach.
In addition, TSTT had stated on October 29, 2023, reassuring customers “that your company’s data has not been compromised,” reiterating that “no corporate client data, employee data, the proprietary information or critical customer information was compromised.”
On October 30, TSTT issued a public statement noting that the “company’s cybersecurity infrastructure operated optimally and was able to restrict these criminals’ vicious plans. No loss or compromise of customer’s data was deleted from TCS databases or manipulated.
“At this time, the company has not corroborated data currently in the public domain purported to be TSTT’s customer information,” TSTT said before admitting later that data had been compromised following several media reports.
JSC chair Anthony Vieira said Agard would be invited to respond to some of the statements.
Meanwhile, the JSC was told that TSTT paid nearly one million dollars (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) to data the protection company CyberEye Limited after the breach. However, Western said a ransom was not paid to those who attacked its system.
“The initial cost was TT$975,000. There was no ransom paid to RansomExx on the advice of our consultants, and in keeping with industry guidance, we do not negotiate with terrorists or companies that position themselves in this role, as it further exposes the business,” Western said.
Check Point Software Technologies was also hired in 2022, but TSTT officials could not state how much was paid to the company for its services.
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