About a decade ago a petty cybercriminal relieved one of my bank accounts of $60,000. From three ATM locations. In the space of less than an hour. It took me about a month for the bank to repay me. Although I asked questions, the bank clammed up and never gave me any details.
A lot has changed in 10 years. Our foray into the digital world has had numerous benefits, presented several opportunities, and boasted many advantages in terms of convenience and timeliness. But as individuals, companies and especially financial institutions have painfully found out that going digital has been fraught with its share of drawbacks and negatives.
‘Open theft’ done ‘under the cover of darkness’ has roiled us, and it has brought new responsibilities upon our heads. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the cost of cybercrime is predicted to hit $8 trillion in 2023 and will grow to $10.5 trillion by 2025, while other data released from Black Kites 2023 Ransomware Landscape Report finds that the number of ransomware victims announced in March 2023 was nearly double that of April 2022 and 1.6 times higher than the peak month in 2022.
If you have a measly $100,000 in the only bank or credit union you know of or you are a big businessman transferring $75 million from one financial institution to another, it is always in your interest to be aware of certain realities. The reality of agile hackers and ransomware gangs focus on exploiting tools used by remote workers and educational institutions, as well as a significant increase in attacks on healthcare organisations.
Locally, we have not been spared. According to the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology (MSET), they will be undertaking targeted sensitisation and training in cyber security and cybercrime for these stakeholders. It is quite pleasing to know that the Jamaica Constabulary Force currently has some degree of capacity in the area of cybercrimes investigation including computer and mobile forensics. Additionally, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ digital evidence and cybercrimes unit has training in the prosecution of cybercrimes. No amount of salary increases for these specialists will ever be considered as massive, and we ought to encourage more of our bright youngsters to major in these areas of study.
The National Security Policy 2023 of the MSET states that “a fight against crime is therefore a fight for development; measures to reduce the social and economic damage caused by pervasive crime has to be integral to the developmental activities of the state”.
It is also a globally recognised fact that cybercrime is a real and present threat to the stability of any society, and Jamaica is certainly no exception. It has to be borne in mind that the scale and sophistication of cybercrime has caused many governments to rethink their strategy in protecting their citizens in an increasingly technology-driven and dependent global economy.
Like heavily armed gunmen in shoot-outs with the police, the cybercriminals want to win. Their objectives are clear. They know what information they are seeking or what outcomes they want to achieve, and they know the path they need to take to reach these goals. Just like a common break-in criminal will spend time scrutinising the movement of the shopkeeper, so it is with cyber criminals, who will spend significant time researching their targets. Often through publicly available information on social networks. After that they plan their objectives strategically.
Change privacy settings and do not use location features. Keep software applications and operating systems up-to-date. Create strong passwords by using upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. Using multifactor authentication will reduce the possibility of a hack.
Well-known financial institutions have long gone past the idea that their name and reputation will shield them from cyber criminals. Quite the contrary. These are always seen as fatted calf and a healthy meal is always in the planning.
Your money is often as important as your life. In reality, to many people their money is their life. It is, therefore, of importance that even as you ensure from your end that nothing in your social media will make you vulnerable to a hack, you also need to sit down with a section manager at the company holding your funds and get a full spelling out of the security features that the company employs.
With the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration seemingly prepping for a Titanic moment, of late, I have been receiving calls from a few of my People’s National Party (PNP) contacts. It seems the rain has disturbed the ants’ nest.
The first piece of ‘news’ they have been pushing is that a poll was commissioned by ‘people from Trinidad’, and the numbers (depending on excitement of the contact) are either five or seven points in favour of the PNP. A little over a week ago I suggested that if such a poll existed, it would be best to lock it down and draw on it mostly for internal strategies.
Then have another poll conducted in, say, July and September. July would give the people more time to shape their views on the salaries issues. A poll in September would capture the strength of that same issue plus the extent to which price increases as a hot-button item will show up between now and the next elections.
Can the PNP as government devise policies to lower prices? Historically, not a big hit with the PNP. The last time that a PNP government was forced to deal with crucial fiscal issues was when Dr Peter Phillips was the de facto PM, and the International Monetary Fund was our invigilator.
If ‘cost of living’ and ‘fixing the economy’ are seen as priorities in September, will the PNP be seen as the party better able to deal with that? If not the PNP then who? Back with the JLP?
Many will be the non-voting population next time out.
Mark Wignall is a political and public affairs analyst. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com [2] and mawigsr@gmail.com.com [3]