NIDS will enhance cybersecurity – Chang

WESTERN BUREAU:

National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang says the National Identification System (NIDS), which the Andrew Holness-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration is pressing to implement, will enhance Jamaica’s cybersecurity capabilities.

“The new national identification bill will further strengthen Jamaica’s cybersecurity framework,” stated Chang, while addressing Tuesday’s opening session of the three-day Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Workshop in Latin America and the Caribbean at the Hilton Rose Hall in Montego Bay.

“In other words, the NIDS will provide Jamaicans with enhanced protection from cyberthreats and cyberattacks,” added Chang.

According to Chang, in its current form, the NIDS bill will facilitate the modernisation of the nation’s information and communication infrastructure.

“This revised national identification bill will not only support the modernisation of our information and communication technology infrastructure, but it will also facilitate the introduction of a multilayered technology security system to mitigate vulnerabilities associated with cyber activities,” said Chang.

The security minister noted that data protection is critical to the security infrastructure of any governance system, and that it’s for that reason that the government has sought to address in earnest the finalisation of a data protection bill.

In an address to parliament on November 26, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said a revised policy of the national identification bill has been completed with the aim of issuing new drafting instructions with strengthened oversight and security provisions by January 2020.

“We have always pointed out that this programme was much more than identification. This programme was always about modernising Jamaica’s information and communications technology infrastructure to support the effective and efficient delivery of government services,” Holness noted at the time.

–A.F.