- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 22/Jul 16:37

Smith calls for urgency in AI adoption, cybersecurity

MINISTER of Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence Dominic Alexander Smith said Trinidad and Tobago needs to operate with a sense of urgency in dealing with all matters of national threat, including cybersecurity. He made the statement in his keynote speech on the first day of the inaugural National Cyberdrill 2025 – an initiative which gives tech students in several universities and operators an opportunity to hone their skills in detecting and isolating cyber threats. The event, at the UTT campus in Chaguaramas, will run from July 22-23 and will include students from UTT, the University of the West Indies (UWI), the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of TT (Costaatt), as well as operators in the public and private sector. "There must be a sense of urgency. There must be economic urgency. There must be societal urgency. There must be urgency dealing with crime. "There must be urgency dealing with issues of cybersecurity. There must be urgency dealing with all matters of national threat and that is the initiative of this government, spearheaded by myself," Smith said. "We have to be urgent in our approach – and coming out of this cyber drill, if there is one thing you can take, take the mantle up individually first and collectively after that – even on this small ecosystem that is the cyber drill." Taking a note from a Japanese proverb which, when translated, means, "If you are prepared, you need not worry," Smith said the cyber drill was a step in the right direction in adopting AI technology for security and better public service. He said the global market for AI in cybersecurity is projected to exceed US$60 billion by 2028. "This cyber drill and the events to follow in the coming days is really not merely a technical exercise. It is a milestone for our government, and it's part of our foundational agenda. "We are aware that AI presents a new class of threat, which enables adversaries to craft more sophisticated and automated attacks. We are also aware that it offers a most powerful defensive tool. "AI can analyse billions of data points in real time to detect billions of anomalies, to predict threats in a way no human ever could. That's the reality. It allows us to move from reactive to predictive defence, from reaction to forward thinking and active defence." He said better use of AI would redound to better service in the public and private sectors for TT citizens. "My vision for TT’s public sector – and I know I am supported by the government and the leader of the government – is to become a responsible and ethical partner in the adoption of AI, not only to streamline citizen facing services but to build more intelligent and resilient cyber defence systems that anticipate and neutralise attacks before they can cause harm," Smith said. Last year, at a joint cybersecurity sensitisation workshop hosted by Caricom IMPACS and the Ministry of National Security, then security minister Fitzgerald Hinds highlighted that between 2019 and 2023, there were 205 successful cyber attacks reported to the TT Cyber Security Incident Response Team (TT-CSIRT) in the ministry, 52 of which happened in 2023. He said in 2021 TT-CSIRT assessed 183 systems across 40 public sector organisations and identified 22 systems that, should they be subject to cyber attack, would have a significant negative impact on TT. The post Smith calls for urgency in AI adoption, cybersecurity appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.