KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Government is looking to establish the new National Cybersecurity Authority within the next two to four years.

“The authority will be created as a creature of statute and will seek to provide overarching guidance to how cyber (computers and computer networks) is treated in Jamaica,” said Head of the Jamaica Cyber Incident Response Team (JaCIRT), Lieutenant Colonel Godphey Sterling.

He was addressing a JIS Think Tank on Thursday, where he provided details on activities for Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October under the theme: ‘Respond today, Secure our Future’.

Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen, in his Throne Speech on February 14, said the new authority will be set up through funding support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

He said the entity will develop national cybersecurity policies, monitor cyberthreats, provide skills training, and develop human capital.

Lieutenant Colonel Sterling said that the authority will upgrade JaCIRT, moving the entity from being just a response element in dealing with cyberattacks and bringing some level of governance, risk management and compliance to the cyber ecosystem in Jamaica.

To establish this authority, cyber in Jamaica must be separated into core elements.

These are Cybersecurity, a subject area under the Office of the Prime Minister, and Jamaica Cybersecurity Incidence Response Team, and Cyber Defence and Law Enforcement under the Ministry of National Security.

– JIS