Belize will hold its first national cyber security symposium from April 24 to the 27th. It's four weeks away, but the PUC which is organizing the event wants to create awareness from now. And that's because cyber security - or the lack of it - affects everyone who logs on to the internet, whether it's on your cell phone, tablet, PC or laptop. Consultant Bevel Wooding explained how this issue affects everyone:..
Bevel Wooding - Cybersecurity Expert
"This forum was actually designed first to create our very stark frightening understanding of what the real state of Belize's cyber readiness is, the truth of it, you are going to have people talking about the statistics, which sites are vulnerable, which areas are under attack right now. This is not a PR and marketing forum to boast about all the wonderful things I'm doing to strengthen my network or my business. This is to primarily deal with the issue of understanding the nature of the threat at a global level, understanding the issues that surround the particular vulnerabilities of the Caribbean region and then drilling into the specifics of what is happening here in Belize right now with a threat assessment that allows businesses, governments and the individuals understand what they need to do now in terms of protecting themselves and their investments online."
"I agree with you, it sound like a grand suit and tie event, but it isn't. It's actually a new national conversation around what each group has to do to work together to ensure that as a country we are digitally safe and so we have special fora for businesses, special fora for law enforcement officers and agency, a special fora for the judiciary and lawyers so that they can discuss what's the nature of legislation to protect it. If you don't have the appropriate laws, you have no crime to commit and we have fora for the public, where a parent can come and find out what to do to protect their children online, where students could come to find out how to keep that Facebook and snap chat account safe and how to make sure that they are not a victim of revenge porn or revenge inappropriate images."
"We are going to be looking at cyberbullying from the stand point of what can parents do to educate their children, what can teachers do to educate their students and what can the law enforcement agencies do to respond in an appropriate and sensitive manner, when youngster and underage persons are the victims of cyber incidents. So, the Caribbean is in this interesting place where we have small networks, relatively small economies and we say, well nobody will be interested in attacking Belize and certainly nobody would be interested in attacking my bank account because it has so little in it, but that's not true. These soft target, which is what the Caribbean represents and what Belize represents and what my and your bank account represents, these soft targets are actually the most effective way to make a use profit as a cyber-criminal."
Jules Vasquez, 7News
"And even if you don't have money online or an online account or you don't have a credit card so you are not transacting online, your identity or your IP can also be used."
Bevel Wooding - Cybersecurity Expert
"That's the thing about online crime and online attacks, it's not just a matter of taking dollars from you, I can take your reputation. I can take your ability to represent yourself as who you are and stolen identities where someone is masquerading as Bevel Wooding or masquerading as Jules can cause harm to you. You go into a situation where you say but you didn't realize you visit those kinds of sites Mr. Jules and those kinds of sites are sites you never went to because somebody took your online identity and masqueraded as you."
Again, the event is set for April 24 to the 27th at the Biltmore Hotel. Attendance is free and you can register online at nigf.bz
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