'We know who you are and we will find you,' PM warns cyber criminals

 

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness has issued a warning to cyber criminals that the government has been increasing its capabilities to pursue them. 

 

The Prime Minister pointed to strategic investments in boosting the country's national security apparatus.

 

"We have stepped up our game. I've said it before. We know who you are, we know how to find you and we can reach out and touch you. So before you commit a crime, think very carefully that the environment that you used to operate in, it is not the same environment as before. What we have done is to change the risk-reward function for crime. Before, you could commit a crime and the probability is that you will not get caught. We have changed that. If you commit a crime today, the probability is that you will get caught," he declared. 

 

Dr. Holness said the misconception that criminals only engage in street-level types of criminal activities is outdated, noting that cyber criminals are more sophisticated. 

 

"The general public tends to have a sense that the criminals that we are dealing with are all street-level operators. That the criminals that we are dealing with are youngsters who are dispossessed, who are marginalised, of which many of them are. But we are also dealing with criminals who are graduates from our universities, who have degrees, who are very intelligent, who are using the cyber world as cover to lead and influence organised criminal activity," he pointed out.

 

The Prime Minister was speaking Wednesday at the launch of the Guardsman Cyber Intelligence Security Operations Centre.