Gonzales meets Bacchus, TSTT on cyber breach

MINISTER of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales told Newsday on Monday that he had earlier held a teleconference with Minister of Digital Transformation Hassel Bacchus and TSTT chairman Sean Roach over the recent cyber attack on TSTT.

"I have been in constant contact with the chairman over the weekend, into this morning." He said they had been joined by Bacchus earlier on Monday.

"The Minister of Digital Transformation provided further advice and support. Of course I can't go into the details of what the discussions centred around, but of course it was on the recent cyber attack at TSTT."

Gonzales said Bacchus, as an ICT expert, was providing some advice and support to Roach.

He said after their meeting, Roach had held an emergency meeting of the TSTT board to discuss the approach for the probe into the cyber attack.

Asked if any other utilities in TT had been recently affected by cyber attacks, he replied, "No. But I intend to conduct a full audit of other utilities and their readiness for cyber attacks."

Newsday asked if emergency measures had to be put in place at TSTT (and any other companies) to avert follow-up attacks?

He replied, "That is what the board is looking at right now.

"They have already started putting systems in place, interims measures, but it is a continuous process the board that the board is looking at right now."

Asked about any police input into the probe, he said, "The matter will also be reported to the cyber crime unit today."

Newsday asked if incidents like the TSTT cyber-attack served to emphasise the need for TT to pass legislation such as the now-stalled Cyber Crime Bill 2017?

Gonzales replied, "We certainly have to, because cyber attacks have been becoming very much more frequent in recent times. I think as a country we should look at cyber crimes not only in the public sector but you are also seeing a lot of private sector companies being victims of cyber attacks."

He said cyber attacks were a very concerning matter in both TT and the region.

"So this matter, the matter of cyber-terrorism, is becoming very pervasive and has the propensity to create widespread disruption to our way of life.

"Therefore we need to look at our legislative system to determine whether or not it is robust enough to protect our citizens from cyber terrorism. That also entails the responsibility of public sector and private sector agencies, the protocols that they must follow when they are victims of cyber threats."

On Sunday, in a statement, Gonzales lamented the gravity of the TSTT attack.

"I have therefore spoken with the chairman of TSTT and mandated that the board of directors commissions an independent inquiry into the matter and to make public the facts and findings, in so far as the details do not compromise TSTT’s customer confidentiality or further put at risk the integrity of TSTT’s data or digital infrastructure."

On July 7, the Ministry of Digital Transformation revealed a cyber attack on the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs which had "negatively impacted" the latter's operations.