Ministry enhances cyber development priorities
“THE Government is taking concrete steps to enhance Fiji’s national cybersecurity capacity in response to current evolving threats.” In a video message to Fiji’s second National Cybersecurity Maturity Assessment held recently, Deputy Prime Minister for Trade, Cooperative, Small and Medium Enterprises and Communications, Manoa Kamikamica, noted that the Government was actively collaborating with multilateral organisations and technology giants in global and regional forums.
“We have taken steps to accede to the Budapest Convention and reformed the legal framework on cybercrime and electronic evidence through our Cybercrime Act of 2021,” DPM Kamikamica said.
“This also includes forging stronger partnerships with Governments like Australia through the Cybersecurity Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding, but we can still do more,” he highlighted.
“To further strengthen our cybersecurity capacity, we are employing a global and comprehensive framework for nation states - the Cybersecurity Capacity Maturity Model for Nations (CMM).”
“The CMM will help Fiji identify our strengths and weaknesses in cybersecurity and develop tailored strategies to improve our overall resilience to cyber threats – whilst at the same time offer a systematic way for us to measure progress and benchmark against international best practices,” he highlighted.
“This is being done in partnership with the UK Government with assistance from experts from the Oceania Cyber Security Centre in preparation for the forthcoming national cybersecurity strategy.”
“The cyber maturity review provides a holistic assessment of each country’s national capacity to manage complex cyber risks and identifies areas for improvement,” he added.
DPM Kamikamica states that Fiji’s cyber journey is marked by bold initiatives and unwavering commitment, echoing across regional collaborations like the 2018 Boe Declaration, the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, and the recent 2023 Lagatoi Declaration, and in global forums like the UN Open Ended Working Group and the UN Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime.
“As we embark on our cyber maturity review, I must extend my deepest gratitude to the UK Government and Oceania Cyber Security entre (OCSC) for their invaluable support,” he acknowledged.
“We have worked closely with the OCSC team to ensure that the process nd outputs of the review align with our national priorities and interests, and also creating these synergies will be instrumental in enhancing efficiency and ensuring our collective success.”
“A new review will assist the ministry to evaluate this progress and inform the Government’s future cyber development priorities,” he added.
CMM is a globally recognised cyber maturity model developed by the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre at the University of Oxford and has been deployed more than 130 times in 90 nations around the world.
Fiji undertook its first Cyber Security Capacity Maturity Model review in 2015 as one of the world’s first countries to use the model.
Director General of Digital Government Transformation, Ms Tupou’tuah Baravilala, has commended the progress made in the digital space by the Fiji Government through various protective measures and the implementation of the Cybercrim Act.
“We are ensuring that all individuals havce accomodations, and I am eagerly anticipating the results of this report, and subsequently, we will begin the gradual implementation of this findings in Fiji,” she said.