First National Cyber Security Symposium – ISOC St Vincent and the Grenadines Chapter

December 11, 2017

The Internet Society St. Vincent & the Grenadines Chapter in collaboration with Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG), Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) and the Internet Society (ISOC) hosted the first National Cyber Security Symposium on December 7-8, 2017 at the Frenches House, under the theme, “Securing Our Critical Infrastructure.”

The Cyber Security Symposium offered a holistic view of the issues, threats, myths, and opportunities for defending and strengthening digital infrastructure against cyber-attacks.

During the two-day event, awareness of solutions and practical strategies were promoted to return attendees to their organizations better equipped to take action and be more effects in the following areas:

Security and Privacy: Informed, Risk-based Decision Making
Incident Management: Collaborating to Detect and Respond to Cyber Incidents
Risk Management: Prevention through continuous Risk Analysis and Mitigation
Network Resilience: Securing and Safe guarding cyber against attack and natural disasters

President of the Internet Society St. Vincent & the Grenadines Chapter Mrs. Roxanne John said that the purpose of the two-day activity were met since the idea was to bring to the forefront the issues relating to a developing threat in the Caribbean and by extension St. Vincent.

Our daily life, economic vitality, and national security depend on a stable, safe, and resilient cyberspace. Attendees who numbered over fifty were engaged in deep discussions on how the changing technology landscape is impacting organizations in St. Vincent. Because of the threats it was seen that there is need for a national cyber-security framework in St.Vincent and the Grenadines.

The symposium ended with attendees volunteering to work on a national cyber-security framework and establish the St. Vincent’s first Cyber Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT). A CSIRT is a group of experts that assesses, documents and responds to a cyber incident so that a network can not only recover quickly, but also avoid future incidents.

The symposium was facilitated by Bevil Wooding, Internet Strategist/Caribbean Outreach Liaison, ARIN; Shernon Osepa, Manager, Regional Affairs LAC Internet Society, ISOC; Stephen Lee CEO, Arkitechs Inc. / Program Director, CaribNOG; and Angela Dingle, the Chief Risk Officer, Omnisystems.

The symposium made possible in through grant financing from the Internet Society and in-kind contributions from the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) and the Government of St.Vincent and the Grenadines.