Kingston, Jamaica – Friday, October 6, 2023. October marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and Digicel Business is on a mission to empower businesses in strengthening their digital defences and fostering a culture of cyber-safety.

Awareness is the first line of defence when it comes to staying cyber secure and Digicel Business’ team of experts will delve into common misconceptions as well as provide clarity on how to protect digital assets effectively. Across the Caribbean and Latin America, the average cost of a single data breach is US$4.2million, and the most common forms of attacks, representing 88% of all breaches, include system intrusion, denial of service and social engineering.

Digicel Business is working closely with Symptai Consulting, a leading Jamaican consultancy in cybersecurity, digital transformation and anti-money laundering across the Caribbean, to offer more complete solutions to a wider range of customers across the region.

Recently analysed results from among 200 cyber security assessments done by Symptai across the Caribbean found that 42% of companies were facing vulnerabilities as a result of improperly configured devices and systems, while 16% were as a result of ineffective patch management controls. The remaining vulnerabilities were as a result of insufficient cryptography, inadequate or improper access controls, lack of data validation and sanitisation and a number of other reasons.

Bryan Kane, Innovation and Strategy Director for Digicel Business said, “Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility, which means that awareness is our first line of defence when it comes to protecting our businesses, and ourselves, against online harms. We know that not every business has a big budget for cybersecurity, however, we still want to help businesses across the region protect themselves, that’s why, over the course of this month, we’ll be offering advice by tackling common myths like ‘small businesses aren’t likely to be attacked’, ‘cybersecurity is solely IT’s responsibility’, and so many others.”

Follow Digicel Business on LinkedIn and look out for upcoming webinars in October, to hear more from its network of experts on how businesses can become cyber secure during Cybersecurity Awareness Month.