Cyber Security in Papua New Guinea

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NO network is safe and to ensure that the country’s critical infrastructure is protected, National Information Communication Technology Authority (NICTA) has embarked on a major cyber-security project.

This was from NICTA chief executive officer Charles Punaha in a presentation he delivered at the day-long conference on E-Business hosted by the Bank South Pacific in Port Moresby last week.

Mr Punaha said there were documented incidences abroad of systems being hacked but that the realities had been homed in, that PNG is not immune with the recent attack on the Bank of PNG’s website. Further, the attacks were likely to be from outside the country.

"The next major project we are now working on and this is mainly to protect critical ICT infrastructure in the country, whether it be airline reservation systems, networks for the banks in the country, PNG Power.

"We are now bringing in experts who are assisting us to draft the policy on Cyber Security that we are hoping will go to the Government by the second quarter of this year.

"After which, as part of the project, we are going to install a computer set in the country, for the time being it will be located with NICTA, in addition to the ISP. The main intention is to provide backup to all the critical service providers," Mr Punaha said.

He said the facility will have the capabilities to monitor traffic around the world, especially when you have cyber-attacks taking place.

He said capacity building would follow and that too is vital in the event that any of our networks or systems in the country are hacked, or sabotaged, then we will have the capabilities to assist people set up their computer systems.

He warned the perpetrators in the country and abroad that the law is now effect and will carry hefty penalties, adding they would also serve as a deterrent. He also stressed that there were provisions to ensure the extradition that would be perpetrators to PNG for eventual prosecution under the country’s laws. Post Courier

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