Thursday 13 October 2022
Minister for Information and Communications Technology, Timothy Masiu has stated that the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), is working closely with the Ministry of Internal Security to ensure cybersecurity is strengthened to deal with cyber issues around the country, especially for social media platform companies and internet users.
When presenting his ministerial statement to Parliament yesterday (Wednesday October 12, 2022), Minister Masiu highlighted cyber threat as one of the key issues which DICT is working on to ensure internet users and companies using social media platforms are free from cyber-attacks.
“My Ministry has been working closely with the PNG Ministry of Internal Security to ensure we heighten our working relationship with social media platform companies and we are in constant dialogue, especially with the Meta (formerly known as Facebook) regional Public Policy team to discuss more on safer usage of social media, especially Facebook.
“We want areas of concern such as misinformation, cyber safety and literacy to be moderated so that they meet PNG’s development agenda.”
Mr Masiu added as part of DICT cyber efforts, the National Cyber Coordination Centre (N3C) is one such intervention where a single technology platform at PNG’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is being used and various national functions such as cybercrime, censorship, defence etc. can leverage and better nationally coordinate monitoring and incident response.
“Our National Cyber Security Centre was established under the Digital Government Act 2022andit is a coordinating centre that provides cyber security services for the whole-of-government.
“It requires additional resourcing so that we can upgrade it to a full-scale cyber security operational centre in order for it to perform all critical tasks consistent with international best practice, as similar working models are being successfully run-in other jurisdictions such as India, Australia, and the United Kingdom.”
Minister Masiu added that the Department of Information and Communications Technology is assessing electronic Safety (eSafety) technology options, and the necessary policy and legislative framework so that it can institutionalise and better coordinate cyber safety and cybercrime efforts.