A third government website has gone down in almost as many weeks and the administration has been reported as saying that it will be seeking assistance from international authorities to identify the suspected cyber attackers.
Checks yesterday revealed that the government procurement website www.eprocure.gov.gy was down and Press and Publicity Officer in the Office of the President Kwame McCoy told this newspaper that the site had been hacked.
This came two days after the Low Carbon Development Strategy website www.lcds.gov.gy was also reportedly hacked. Visitors to that site early Wednesday were greeted with Islamic music while “Saudi Arabia Hackers” and “hacked by Net Devil” scrolled across the page.
And in early November, the Government Information Agency’s (GINA) website www.gina.gov.gy was out of commission for several days. A senior official at the agency later said the webmaster had ruled that it was not a hacking and that site had been down for maintenance reasons. The Office of the President’s website has also fallen victim in the past.
The alleged attacks have come as fledgling work begins on cyber security in Guyana with the Ministry of Home Affairs in October hosting the first National Conference on the topic. The two-day event was aimed at heightening awareness of the dangers of cyber crimes among other things.
It ended with more than a dozen recommendations including a call for the enactment of laws to prosecute cyber criminals as the local ICT landscape begins to take shape with public and private efforts at improving internet connectivity.
Among the 20 recommendations were calls for the development of a national public awareness strategy on cyber security/cyber crime; the establishment of a Computer Security Incident Response Team; and the creation of measures to protect mobile phone users in case of theft or misplaced handsets.
The ministry’s Crime and Security Programme Specialist Floyd Levi had noted that the conference was an initial step towards formulating the national policy with the resulting recommendations to be taken to the minister who will then forward them to the Cabinet for its consideration.
Other recommendations included the introduction of standardised software and compatible hardware for government agencies; the creation of a monitoring body; and the development of a “comprehensive risk management and response mechanism in the event of destruction of ICT infrastructure by fire, flood or other disasters.”
There was also a call for cyber security to receive high priority on the national development agenda and for the creation of an identification repository to verify the identity of potential subscribers to ICT service providers.
There were also presentations on the implementation and enforcement of cyber security legislation, information sharing among national stakeholders and developing a national framework for cyber security.
Defining cyber security and infrastructure protection, legal issues, cyber threats and the implications for the government were among also the issues dealt with.
The conference drew participation from the disciplined services, the public and private sectors and experts from the OAS and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
