THE Caribbean is not immune to the recent global attacks on computer networks and systems by Internet hackers.

This was the view expressed by international technology expert Bevil Wooding in an interview on the upcoming sixth regional meeting of the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG) to be held in Belize City, Belize, from September 22 to 25.
“As governments and businesses in the Caribbean increase their dependence on information and communication technologies, they must at the same time build greater capacity to manage and protect technology assets,” Wooding said.
A press statement from CaribNOG said he gave various examples of volunteer groups of “ethical hackers” who mobilised and collaborated to help protect local networks around the world.
“The Caribbean is no less vulnerable to cyber-attacks than other regions of the world. That’s why we have to take equivalent steps to develop our technical and human resource capacity. CaribNOG is a key part of the response to that challenge,” he said.
Wooding, one of the founders of CaribNOG, described the upcoming meetings as “invaluable for advancing the technical skills of ICT professionals in Belize who design, manage or secure the network infrastructure”.
The Belize Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is the local organiser for the event. PUC’s Director of Telecommunications, Kingsley Smith explained, “We are pleased to host the CaribNOG team in Belize. We believe this event provides an opportunity to increase the number of people in Belize who have an advanced understanding of network engineering and cyber-security.”
The CaribNOG 6 programme will include a mix of lectures and hands-on technical workshops delivered by regional and international technology experts. Topics to be covered over the five-day event include cyber-security, Internet Exchange Point (IXP) implementation, IPv6 deployment and VoIP design, routing and DNSSEC implementation techniques.
The five-day event will be jointly hosted by the Belize PUC, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), and Packet Clearing House (PCH). Also supporting the event are the Internet Society (ISOC), the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC) and the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN).