President Irfaan Ali has warned that Guyana is facing intense cyber-security threats and has charged the University of Guyana, the Guyana Defense Force and its international partner—the William J. Perry Centre, to assist the country in shutting down those threats.
Addressing a ceremony at the University of Guyana today, where the University received the 2023 Perry Center Award for Excellence in Security and Defense Education for Hemispheric Defense Studies, President Ali said the country is now exposed to increased cyber security threats.
“Cybersecurity is becoming a major threat for us. Five years ago, one would have designated this as a low-level threat to Guyana. We have seen over the last two years how intense this threat is becoming. The cyber threat is real, we have seen the information and misinformation campaign during the tensions with our neighbours,” the President stated.
The threats, the President said, are not isolated to Guyana, but also to organisations and institutions associated with the country.
He recalled the hacking of the CARICOM website during the tensions last December between Guyana and neighbouring Venezuela.
He said as the country’s economy continues to expand and as it develops new partnerships, threats to its cyberspace could possibly intensify.
“So as the economy becomes more sophisticate and our reach becomes greater, and this is important because those who are attacking your information set are attacking it because they look at the reach of the country and one must acknowledge that the reach of Guyana is more intense and we are having greater position globally and as a result of that they will be greater interest in what we have, what we store, what information we have, and what type of partnership we are having,” the President stated
The President told the event that the country’s ports of entries are also being threatened, but noted that the government is implementing strategies to address those new challenges.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login