Cyber expert sounds alarm on Jamaica’s digital weak spots

As Jamaica becomes more connected than ever, cybersecurity engineer Russell Alexander says the battle against cybercrime is getting tougher, and artificial intelligence is helping fuel the threat.

Alexander, who spends his days testing computer systems for weaknesses, said hackers are benefiting from tools that make cybercrime easier and more accessible than before.

“AI can show you how to do so much,” he said. “What I would say has changed is that AI has really stepped up the game in terms of the number of criminals out there.”

His warning comes as Jamaica continues to face a rising number of attempted cyberattacks, with Alexander noting that the country’s expanding digital footprint is creating more opportunities for criminals.

“Even grandmas have a smartphone now,” he said. “The attack surface is gonna get bigger because everything is just digital now, so you are always going to see an increase in the attempts and the successes just because of the nature and the growth of digital.”

Alexander said many organisations are already struggling to keep up.

“The more I do cybersecurity, the more you test, you realise how much of a gap there is between what people do to secure themselves and what an attacker will do,” he told THE STAR.

“It’s a massive space so, even when you go into some institutions that you would consider very secure by nature big businesses and big names, you go in there as a tester and realise that there are one hundred million holes. It is Swiss cheese.”

For everyday Jamaicans, Alexander stressed the importance of building multiple layers of protection online.

“There is always going to be a security risk that you don’t know about,” he said.

“If you’re layered, then chances are an attacker is going to move on to someone else just like, if you have five houses on the road, the attacker is going to take the one without the dogs.”