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 | Senior Lecturer, Dr Sunil Lal, from the School of Computing, Information and Mathematical Sciences, during the Cyber Security Forum at USP Laucala Campus, Suva |
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The University of the South Pacific hosted a national open forum on cyber security, at its Japan-Pacific ICT Centre at the USP Laucala Campus in Suva on Friday, 10 May, 2013.
The forum was part of a two-day National Cyber Security public consultations workshop co-hosted by the Ministry of Defence, National Security and Immigration, in collaboration with the University of the South Pacific Research Office and was open to members of the public.
The Minister for Defence, National Security and Immigration, Hon. Mr Joketani Cokanasiga, in his opening address at the workshop said Fiji sees various forms of cyber intrusions on a daily basis.
He said since the Ministry’s first workshop in 2011, stakeholders had shown an interest in collaborating with government to increase efforts in strengthening cyber security.
“Aside from these security breaches, there are economic and social considerations such as the impact of cyber security related acts on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Fiji,” Mr Cokanasiga said.
Hon. Minister Cokanasiga said that since the Ministry’s first workshop on cyber-crime in 2011, stakeholders have shown an increased interest towards collaboration in increasing efforts to strengthen cyber security.
“Government is pleased to collaborate with the University of the South Pacific as the leading academic institution in the Pacific region to host consultations with stakeholders and the general public in the open forum,” he said.
Director of Research, Dr Jito Vanualailai said the University was delighted to host this national dialogue on cyber security.
“The Pacific region is, at the moment, experiencing this phenomenon, playing the catch-up game with its legislation and laws to meet the unpredictable consequences of the Internet-related technological advances,” Dr Vanualailai said.
He also noted that, “the outcome of this forum will assist the development of Fiji’s policy, strategy and legislation on cyber security”.
The public discussed various issues regarding cyberspace with the organisers, including, privacy laws, cyber content regulation, legislations on online abuse and bullying, content categorizing, regulation of hate speech, the economic cost of cybercrimes (visa fraud, identity theft, spam, hacking) to an organization and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a nation and whether law enforcement officers should be allowed to access personal information stored by internet service providers.
The two-day workshop is expected to be the final public consultation which will help form the foundation for the relevant legislative framework to develop a national cyber security strategy and a policy.
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