Padarath upset Gonzales is acting AG

PRINCES Town MP Barry Padarath is upset about Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales acting as attorney general.

On Thursday, the Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs announced that Gonzales, an attorney, would act as AG while Attorney General Reginal Armour, SC, is overseas on private business.

In a statement, Padarath described this move as promoting incompetence, at a time when Gonzales is allegedly embroiled in one of the most serious attacks on TT's national security.

He reiterated his claim that Gonzales misled the Parliament and the nation about the cyber attack at the Telecommunications Services of TT (TSTT) on October 9.

He reiterated his call for Gonzales to explain the circumstances of the termination of TSTT CEO Lisa Agard on Wednesday.

Padarath called on the government to take immediate steps to bring legislation to the Parliament in line with the Budapest Convention to protect against cyber attacks and cyber crime.

He recalled that a parliamentary joint select committee (JSC) on cyber crime was formed in 2017 and laid a report in the House of Representatives. He said government has not acted on that report to date.

Speaking in the Senate on November 7, Gonzales said government had mandated TSTT's board of directors to do a thorough and independent investigation into this incident.

The board, he continued, has taken steps towards facilitating the start of the probe.

Gonzales said, " Additionally, TSTT is still in the process of evaluating all aspects of the attack, including the validation of all reported information in the public domain, that is the personal data of all our citizens, inclusive of members of the Cabinet and parliamentarians."

That exercise is being done on a customer-by-customer basis.

Gonzales said, "At this point in time, I do not have any report before me that confirms that the personal information of MPs has been affected by this data breach."

As the results of the investigation become available, Gonzales promised "to provide further clarity on this ongoing situation to the national community."

He said there was no credible information in the public domain about the Prime Minister's personal information being compromised as a result of the TSTT cyber attack.

In a Facebook post on the same day, Dr Rowley said, "I have confirmed that the information used by the Trinidad Guardian to publish its story was not my data. That data profile of ID and driver's permit is for another family member.

"The latest additional information that is circulating from a stolen spreadsheet is not my bank details. It appears to be my TT government telephone bill account, which is somewhere in TSTT's system. That piece of data has information which is accurate but not secret."

But Rowley said having that data or any other falling into the hands of criminals was deeply disturbing.

"This occurrence should be treated with the greatest competence and utmost sincerity by the company.

"TSTT is also expected to treat this matter as a national security threat and ensure that the public trust is restored, preserved, and handled with absolute professionalism."