Senior US official urges greater readiness against cybercrime
-assessment team to visit Guyana this week
A senior US government official has urged Guyana to step up efforts to take on cybercrime and an assessment team is to visit this week to share best practices for the protection of military networks.
A release from the US Embassy said that Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice, Richard W. Downing; accompanied by Cybersecurity Program Manager from the Secretariat of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism, Organization of America States (OAS), Kerry-Ann Barrett; and a team of Department of Justice (DOJ) cyber experts visited Guyana to raise cyber security solutions with representatives from the Government of Guyana.
The release said that Downing and Barrett met with Ambassador Elisabeth Harper, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, representatives from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, representatives from the Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Attorney General’s Chambers, representatives from the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Guyana Police Force.
Downing and Barrett encouraged Guyana’s accession to the Budapest Convention, or the Convention on Cybercrime, which would offer additional resources to bolster domestic capacity for law enforcement responses when combatting cybercrime.
“This crucial step will help Guyana combat cyber threats as it undergoes a major economic transformation. Additionally, the DOJ cyber team, in conjunction with the OAS, offered technical support toward the development of national cyber security frameworks to combat cybercrimes, especially in the security and energy sectors”, the release said. The team proposed similar support to CARICOM countries.
In addition to the visit by the DOJ, the release said that the U.S. Southern Command and Florida National Guard will send a cyber defence assessment team to Guyana this week, with the goal of sharing best practices with the Guyana Defence Force to protect military networks from cyber-attacks.
The release added that these visits by DOJ and USSOUTHCOM underline the United States’ concerted efforts to help Guyana in establishing and developing a strong cyber security defence to support future development.