THE THREAT OF CYBERCRIME AND ITS IMPACT ON NATIONAL SECURITY The National Security Policy10, states that ‘a fight against crime is therefore a fight for development; measures to reduce the social and economic damage caused by pervasive crime have to be integral to the developmental activities of the state.’ It is also a globally recognized fact that cybercrime is a real and present threat to the stability of any society and Jamaica is no exception. The scale and sophistication of cybercrime has caused many Governments to rethink their strategy in protecting their citizens in an increasingly technology driven and dependent global economy. Cybercriminals usually have clear objectives when launching their exploits. They know what information they are seeking or what outcomes they want to achieve, and they know the path they need to take to reach these goals. These criminals will spend significant time researching their targets, often through publicly available information on social networks, and plan their objectives strategically. Many of these malicious attacks have sought to expose and/or exploit sensitive and confidential information which can have detrimental effects for government and critical infrastructure operators. There is a thinking that users of the Internet should assume that nothing in the cyber world can or should be trusted. Yet organizations in the public and private sectors as well as individuals still desire the assurance that the technologies they rely on every day can be trusted11. In recent years increasing amounts of personal and sensitive data, such as names, addresses and credit card information, are being harvested by businesses. Additionally, increasing amounts of businesses store personal and sensitive data on online platforms or other electronic media. As massive amounts of data become readily accessible; they have become high commodity items to cyber criminals as they can be sold to other malicious actors. Consequently individuals, businesses and government alike must take adequate precautions to protect their data. Cybercrime is a real and present threat to the stability of any society and Jamaica is no exception. Global trends in cybercrimes demonstrate that the financial sector is the sector most targeted by cyber criminals. Their activities include phishing, identity theft and the creation of fake banking apps12. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimate that identity theft is the most profitable form of cybercrime, generating perhaps US$1 billion per year in revenue on a global basis. The same UNODC report estimated that the cost of identity theft using cyber techniques in the United States was US$780 million13. Additionally, Interpol has stated that more criminals are exploiting the speed, convenience and anonymity that modern technologies offer in order to commit a diverse range of criminal activities. These include attacks against computer data and systems, identity theft, the distribution of child sexual abuse images, internet auction fraud, the penetration of 10. A New Approach: National Security Policy for Jamaica, 2014 11. 2014 CISCO Annual Security Report 12. Blurring Boundaries-Trend Micro Predictions for 2014 and Beyond, Accessed at http:// www.trendmicro.com/cloud-content/us/pdfs/security-intelligence/reports/rpt-trend-microsecurity-predictions-for-2014-and-beyond.pdf 13. The Economic impact of Cybercrime and Cyber Espionage – Center for Strategic and International Studies, July 2013 (McAfee) 10 National Cyber Security Strategy Government of Jamaica INTRODUCTION