Timothy Masiu, Minister of Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) of Papua New Guinea has been pushing for the Digital Government Bill 2021 to be enacted in the November parliament session. This bill if and when enacted will give the ICT department a governance framework, necessary powers, and enforcement mechanisms to strengthen cybersecurity measures and capabilities. The drafting instructions for the same were cleared by the State Solicitor in September and were further endorsed by the cabinet in October.
This bill was raised by Masiu after the ransomware cyberattack on the Government's Integrated Management Financial System (IMFS) on October 30th, 2021. This attack was successful because the Department of Finance did not take up endpoint protection services from the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) or use the Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) making it vulnerable.
This is not the first time that the government is focusing on cybersecurity. In 2018 a National Cyber Security Center Project was initiated with the help of various agencies like the Department of Prime Minister, Australian Government, NEC, and NICTA. NCSC and CERT fall under this project and offer cybersecurity services as ICT shared services. The National Cyber Security Center services will be operational until the Digital bill is enacted in Parliament.
To ensure that proper cybersecurity measures are taken the ICT is also working on the National Cyber Security Policy and it will be taken to the Cabinet immediately. Masiu is also planning to have full enforcement of the National Cyber Security Center and CERT.
The government is also hosting the first National ICT Summit from 10th November 2021 to 12th November 2021.
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