PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) Friday apologized to the customers following the cyberattack on its system that has left the personal information of thousands of its customers compromised.
“Let me take this opportunity to apologize to our customers that cybercriminals stole their data,” TSTT chief executive officer Lisa Agard said as she spoke at a virtual briefing with the company’s bondholders and analysts.
Lisa Agard (File Photo)
Agard said TSTT had not been the only victim of cyber-attacks in the country and that since last year, there have been 55 known attacks reported, adding, “TSTT abhors the actions of these malicious cyber terrorists.”
She admitted that most state-owned telecommunications could have communicated the cyber breach to its stakeholders better.
But she acknowledged that in its haste to address the cyber problem, there were some things the company could have done better.
“We were so busily focused on identifying the problem, containing it, and restoring full capability to serve our customers that we perhaps neglected to communicate effectively with them.
“This was not done with malice, but rather from a place of ensuring that the most accurate information was communicated when it became known,” she added.
Late last month, international hackers Ransomexx announced it had infected TSTT with ransomware and stole as many as six gigabytes (GB) of its data, including names, e-mail addresses, national ID numbers, phone numbers, and “a lot of other sensitive data.”
Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has called on TSTT to treat as a “national security threat” the cyberattack on its system, warning that “this data or any other for that matter, falling into the hands of criminals, is alarming and this occurrence should be treated with the most excellent competence and utmost sincerity by the company.
Agard told the meeting that initially, most of the customer complaints were about connectivity, the inability to pay bills online, and the management of queries. She said TSTT focused on addressing these issues, with its teams working around the clock to get customers securely back online.
“In hindsight, we should have also ensured that we kept our valued customers better informed and educated about this situation,” she said, adding that as soon as the data breach was publicized on October 28, the company launched an investigation to verify the claims and corroborate the information, that was in public.
“Checking the data against TSTT’s many databases was an extensive process, and this guided us in terms of the information we communicated to the public and our other stakeholders,” Agard said.
Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales has since called for” a thorough and full-scale investigation” into the cyberattack after saying he is “deeply concerned” about the situation.
Gonsalves said that digital security invasions were becoming increasingly frequent worldwide and that while no organization or individual was immune to such attacks, the breach of TSTT’s digital security apparatus “is a grave concern to the Government.
“The gravity of the situation warrants a thorough and full-scale investigation to ascertain the facts and circumstances that caused the breach, TSTT’s communications regarding the matter, and the actions the organization is (and has been) taking to reduce the possibility of future cyber incursions.”
But the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it doubts any meaningful probe would be conducted. At the very least, Agard and the chief financial officer should be removed from their posts.
“At the very least, they should be suspended while the investigation is going on,” said CWU general secretary Clyde Elder, adding, “but at the very most, they should have been fired already.”
He said that the Public Utilities Minister had not been straightforward with the population when he claimed there had been no cyberattack at TSTT, “and I am unsure if he is lying or trying to fool us again.”
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