Cybersecurity expert says Jamaican companies vulnerable to attacks

The recent cyberattack on a major Jamaican company has brought home for Michael Morsby how vulnerable Jamaican companies are.

Morsby, who owns a cybersecurity company, SCN Solutions Limited, and advises companies on best cybersecurity practices, said that many companies as well as individuals are unaware of how easy it is to be hacked and do not take the necessary precautions. With the recent cyberattack on Massy Distributions, one of Jamaica’s largest supplier of consumer and pharmaceutical goods, Morsby said it shows the vulnerability of companies.

His journey into IT world began soon after he was drafted into the United States Army. However, his journey to the United States was a reluctant one.

Morbsy was born in St. James, Jamaica. He attended Barracks Road Primary School before going to Cornwall College where he obtained his General Certificate of Education (GCE) certification. His mother who had by that time migrated to the United States filed for her young son, but Morsby was reluctant to go live there.

He changed his mind on the advice of his aunt who suggested that he try it and if he did not like living there he could return to Jamaica. So he migrated in 1995 going to live in Philadelphia with his mother.

Morsby’s first brush with the United States confirmed his initial reluctance. “My mother lives in a one-bedroom apartment, and so I had to sleep on the coach. This was foreign to me coming from a middle-class family in Jamaica,” he told The Gleaner.

GOT REJECTED

His attempts to get into such schools as Temple University, and Penn State University and getting rejected further dampened his spirit.

“They told me that they did not recognise my Jamaican education and I had to do one year of high school in the United States,” he said.

He was enrolled in Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia, a school in one of the city’s challenging neighbourhoods. Morsby came out on top of his class.

“Attending that school made me aware of what black students were up against in the US school system,” he noted.

Feeling lost and unsure of his direction, Morsby’s life changed when he met a Marine Corps recruiter and he decided to join the US military.

“I always wanted to join the military so when he recruited me I jumped at the chance,” he said.

Morbsy was placed in the technology area because he had some knowledge of IT. Being in the military allowed him to attend school doing the courses that he wanted. Initially he studied psychology, but he wanted to go to computer school having worked in the IT department during his second year in school.

UNDERTOOK COURSES

Morsby, to further his career in technology undertook courses leading to certification in a number of areas dealing with cybersecurity. Morsby pointed out that just going on social media can open someone up to exposing their personal data that result in loss productive time.

“You open up something from an email that you do not know and immediately all your personal data is exposed. It takes time to have all this information retrieved from the dark web. This results in loss time and money,” he said.

With the proposed Center of Excellence, an education programme can be carried out to make people aware of the dangers they face when they surf the internet, he said.

He said that such an educational programme will allow people to understand the various attacks and how to guard against infiltration.

“It means having people trained to understand what is involved,” he said. Cybersecurity is the new frontier for attacks, according to both Morsby.