Lieutenant Colonel Godphey Sterling, Director of JaCIRT
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Lieutenant Colonel Godphey Sterling
By Halshane Burke
Jamaica is seeing a reduction in the number of cyberattacks when compared with the similar period last year.
Lieutenant Colonel Godphey Sterling, Director of the Jamaica Cyber Incidents Response Unit (JaCIRT), says the country has seen a 78 per cent reduction in attempted attacks against local cyber infrastructure.
"This saw the number of attempted attacks in the first half of 2024 decreasing from just over 19 million last year in the same period of time to just over 4 million this year. We would have ended 2023 with just over 43 million attempted attacks. This year we are hoping to end under 10 million attacks if the trend continues," he disclosed.
Colonel Sterling sought to dispel the notion that a reduction in attempted cyberattacks may not be a positive for the country.
"If the reduction in the number of attacks happened in asylum and the number of vulnerabilities as well as the attitude within the ecosystem were not trending in the same direction, then I would agree with some of the experts you are speaking with. But when we take all the metrics together, what we are seeing is a trend in the right direction."
While he admitted that the attacks have become more sophisticated and more targeted, he noted that they are fewer in number.
"What it means is that we have more resources to apply, one, to the recovery effort, two, to ensure that the lessons learned are properly shared and implemented in building back; and that also should help to keep the numbers trending down," suggested the JaCIRT director.
He was speaking at Wednesday's post-Cabinet press briefing.
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