-says Digicel’s CEO

AN understanding of the importance of and the need for cybersecurity is still a challenge in Guyana, notwithstanding the development of the country’s information, communication and technology (ICT) infrastructure, which has been fuelled by the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Digicel, Gregory Dean, in a recent interview with the media, noted that cybersecurity is a big area on which his company is focusing, even as it continues to expand its line of services.

Dean explained that the company has encountered a lack of receptiveness from many businesses when it comes to cybersecurity.

“Some companies still have an old-fashioned view, where they see security as a physical security and still don’t appreciate the cybersecurity elements of it. But it is one of the key areas our team is focusing on,” he noted.

Cybersecurity is the protection of online data from theft and damage. This includes sensitive data, personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), personal information, intellectual property, data, and governmental and industry information systems.

Currently, Guyana still largely depends on paper-based systems for data storage and financial transactions; however, the country has been seeing exponential growth in the implementation of electronic data management systems and electronic financial transactions.

With this growth comes the increased need for protection of the information, particularly financial information, as more and more services go online.

“Right now, we are doing a lot of education with a lot of companies saying this is the reason why you need to take cybersecurity seriously. But it is a process. I wouldn’t say we have a lot of customers in the cybersecurity area, but it is one of the services that we offer,” Dean said.

Digicel currently provides a limited number of electronic business solutions services to thousands of businesses in Guyana, and believes that cybersecurity is a big area that needs attention. However, many businesses are not cognisant of the importance of cybersecurity.

“For Guyana we are still seeing we need an education process where you have to go into companies and explain that if you have a cyber attack, this is the value it can have on your business, etcetera. There is an education process that still needs to be done,” Dean said.

Dean noted that it does have much to do with companies being more preoccupied with marketing the technology without properly getting over to consumers the need and importance of the technology.

“We had all this wonderful technology, and we had all this [sic] marketing campaigns, but we didn’t really see this huge take-up [of cybersecurity services] and then we started to ask yourself why you didn’t see this huge take up and then we realised that there is a whole education aspect that goes with it, that needed to be done,” he added.

“We have probably been guilty as a company in that we came in saying here’s all this wonderful technology, but we haven’t taken customers on the journey to say why this technology is critical. We need to do better in terms of how we communicate with customers and speak more in terms of what the benefits are for the customer,” Dean told the media.