The Ministry of Defense, in collaboration with the US Agency for International Development, is working on finalizing a policy framework that will provide the government with the guidance necessary to ensure that we protect our critical cyber infrastructure.

According to the Permanent Secretary for Defense, Mason Smith, the framework will help Fiji respond to cyberattacks and boost resilience.

The Permanent Secretary highlights that the Ministry is trying to put together a response team to deal with cyberattacks.

[Permanent Secretary for Defense, Mason Smith]

“Basically discussing with critical infrastructure managers. These are the people with the expertise. They run their own critical infrastructure, but the onus is on the government to provide that policy framework and also to set up the response team so when something does happen, we are able to respond quickly to those attacks.

Smith says that cybercrime happens on an almost daily basis, and the trend keeps on increasing.

US AID Mission Director Zema Semunegus states that the US is funding this program, contributing $23 million to the five-year program that aims to create regulations and systems that will hopefully lend themselves to more infrastructure development work.

Critical infrastructure managers attend the Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Workshop in an effort to develop a framework that can protect information, resources, and cash while enhancing preparedness for risks that can be detected early and enhancing resilience and capacity to respond to various cyber threats.