The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) is hosting consultations on CARICOM’s Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Action Plan (CCSCAP), at its headquarters in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, from 22-24 October 2024.

The objective of the consultations is to review CCSCAP priorities and align regional efforts. Its focus is on global cybersecurity trends and emerging threats, legal framework harmonisation, building sustainable capacity for cybersecurity resilience, governance and monitoring frameworks as well as external partner engagement and roadmap finalisation among other issues.

Participants include representatives from CARICOM IMPACS, European Union (EU) Digital Alliance, El PACCTO 2.0, Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), Organisation of American States (OAS), national Cybersecurity Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs), Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC), Commonwealth Secretariat, CARICOM Secretariat, government stakeholders (including the Dominican Republic), INTERPOL and the Regional Security System (RSS).

CCSCAP seeks to address the cybersecurity vulnerabilities in each participating Caribbean country and to establish practical, harmonised standard of practices, systems and expertise for cybersecurity, to which each territory could aspire in the short and medium terms. It was developed as the main output of the Caribbean Stakeholders Meeting II – Cybersecurity and Cybercrime held in St. Lucia in March 2016 by CARICOM IMPACS.

Eight years after its adoption, the CCSCAP requires an evaluation of its implementation, as well as an update, in order to tackle current and emerging cyberthreats in the Caribbean. The updated version is meant to complement current efforts by the CARICOM Secretariat to establish a regional cyber-resilience strategy with the support of USAID.

The evaluation and updating of the CCSCAP corresponds to the objectives of the cybersecurity component of the Digital Alliance Policy Dialogue since it is a key policy document that contributes to the strengthening of the national and regional cyber ecosystem in the Caribbean. It is also a continuation of a longstanding relationship between the EU Delegation in Barbados and CARICOM IMPACS. As a result, the Digital Alliance assistance will benefit from a number of reports and diagnostic assessments, supported by the EU.