KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — People utilising their cell phones to conduct money transactions, including banking, paying bills and purchasing goods and services, are being urged to take greater precautions.  

Director of the Mona Information and Communication Technology Policy Centre, at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Hopeton Dunn, said people using the mobile Internet are less inclined to take the precautions necessary, compared to those who are working on a personal computer in an office.

He said there is need to raise awareness of the potential danger, as failure to do so could result in persons or companies falling victim to Internet hacking.

Professor Dunn, who is also Director of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communications (CARIMAC), was addressing the opening of a two-day National Cyber Security Conference at the Regional Headquarters of the UWI on November 28.

He expressed the hope that the conference, which is in its fourth year of staging, will inform public policy as it relates to cyber security.

The event has influenced the creation of the Cyber-Incident Response Team in the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology and the move to establish an Internet Exchange Point (IXP) facility.

The IXP will allow for Internet traffic to be routed within Jamaica for processing, instead of through overseas providers as currently obtains, allowing for faster and cheaper Internet access.

Sponsored by the National Commercial Bank (NCB), the conference is being held under the theme ‘Mobile Money, Online Banking and Citizen Awareness’.   

The bank’s Senior General Manager for Group Operations and Technology, Howard Gordon, said the conference was being staged at a time when NCB is improving its internal online security using sophisticated technology.

 “The technology is one of the most secure… used globally by banks and other entities. This upgrade was effected in an attempt to minimise and potentially stave off any form of disruption that may be leveraged against our system,” he pointed out.

The conference is expected to examine issues related to cyber security and mobile money; countering cybercrime; protecting telecommunications services; banking and e-Government; cyber threats to online banking; and building citizen awareness.