The Minister for Internal Security Hon. Peter Tsiamalili jnr. made a brief visit to the National Cybersecurity Centre, in Port Moresby on Thursday 8 September 2022, accompanied by Minister for Information and Communications Technology Hon. Timothy Masiu.
Secretary of the Department of ICT, Mr Steven Matainaho and Deputy Secretary, Digital Wing and Information Delivery Mr Russell Woruba were on hand to take Minister Tsiamalili and his officers for a tour of the Centre.
The National Cybersecurity Centre was setup to monitor Government agencies on cyber threats and cyber-attacks on digital infrastructure and services.
According to the Manager for Cybersecurity Mr Hamilton Vagi, there are nine agencies being monitored and almost 100 endpoints which are the antivirus software deployed or installed in all computers.
He explained that all those computers are linked back to Sophos central and the Centre monitors alerts in a real live monitoring time system.
Mr Vagi further explained that in the event that attacks are identified, respective agencies are being advised.
“While we are in the digital world where people can steal data on mobile phones and computers, we need to be on high alert and protect our government agencies and government data,” said Mr Vagi.
Minister Tsiamalili was impressed with the setup of the Centre and assured his colleague Minister Hon. Timothy Masiu that they would meet again soon to discuss more.
The Centre is in working process and will need few more tools to ensure all government agencies are being monitored properly from cyber threats and cyber-attacks and to support the cyber unit.
The National Cybersecurity Centre is housed within the Department of Information and Communications Technology.