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Malware attack on GWI… Board wants to do its own investigation – CEO
GWI CEO Dr. Richard Van West-Charles
After its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems suffered a malware attack in late January, the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) last week, said that its systems are up and running.
The cause of the attack, or if it was deliberate, is still to be established, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the entity, Dr. Richard Van West-Charles told Kaieteur News yesterday.
According to the CEO, GWI’s Board of Directors wants to do its own investigation. He added that five reports have already been completed and the agency is awaiting the completion of the final one by the end of this week.
Management will hand over these reports to the board.
The CEO did not say why the board would want to carry out its own investigation. However, there have been comments about the attack with some positing that the attack could have been an “inside job”.
Efforts to contact the Chairperson (Acting) on the Board, the Mayor of Georgetown, Patricia Chase-Greene, were futile. Kaieteur News was told that Chase-Greene is currently out of the jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the recovery and repair exercise is moving apace, Dr. Van West-Charles said.
He noted that the entity’s ICT security is in a better place with “proper” configuration of firewalls and the appropriate email software.
Some computers are still being updated, he said, while pointing out that there is still an issue with a file server – this is currently being addressed by technical personnel.
According to reports – On January 26, the GWI called in cyber crime experts from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) after personnel – while performing maintenance duties – discovered that several systems were infected with malware.
The experts engaged technical personnel at GWI and an investigation was launched to assist in the determination of causality and the restoration of the system. To avoid extended damage, servers were taken offline.
The attack affected methods of billing and collections. However, alternative measures were taken to continue revenue collection.
Several banks, Sure Pay, GTT Mobile Money and Bill Express were listed as some of the payment alternatives.
Meanwhile, the Cybercrime Bill of 2016 was presented and read for the first time in the National Assembly last year by the Attorney General, Basil Williams. The Legal Affairs Minister also referred the complex legislation to a Special Select Committee, so that it can be properly perused and amendments made where necessary.
The Bill seeks to combat cybercrime by creating offences related to it and provide for penalties, investigation and prosecution of the offences and related matters.
The Bill sets out that a person commits an offence if he/she intentionally, without authorization or in excess of authorization, or by infringing any security measure, accesses a computer system or any part of a computer system of another person.
The draft legislation also deals with child pornography and child luring. It says that a person who produces child pornography for the purpose of distribution through a computer system, or offers or makes available, distributes or transmits child pornography through a computer system, commits an offence.
It says, too, that a person who uses a computer system to arrange a meeting with a child with the intent of abusing or engaging in sexual activity with the child or producing child pornography, whether or not he takes any steps to effect such a meeting, commits child luring.
Another clause in the Bill addresses the publication or transmission of images of the private area of a person. It states that a person who captures, stores in, publishes or transmits through a computer system, the image of the private area of another person without that other person’s consent commits an offence.
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