Businesses are being urged to buy into the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), and the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27001 Information Security Management Standard, as cyberattacks are on the rise.

 The call came from Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Sancia Bennett Templer, at the launch of the ISO/IEC 27001 Standard, at the offices of the BSJ in St. Andrew, on Wednesday.

Bennett Templer said this standard will help to protect citizens’ rights to privacy and attract digital investment, while building a more robust digital economy.

The ISO/IEC 27001 is the flagship and best-selling ISO standard for information security and cybersecurity management. It is a common business language for global compliance where ISO/IEC 27001 keeps pace with global regulatory compliance requirements, digital advances and mitigating cyber threats.

It has a cyber-risk standard and a tool for risk management, cyber-resilience, operational excellence and good governance. It is also used for digital transformation and trade, where ISO/IEC 27001 certification serves as a significant catalyst for digital trade.

The Permanent Secretary warned that cyberthreats will continue to come to local business operations, especially as “we advance in the digital age, so it is important to invest in international standards such as ISO/IEC 27001 to protect information and manage cyber risks”.

She also spoke of the special Standards Training Application Records and Registration Testing (START) programme being offered at the BSJ, through which the Bureau is helping medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) to get training and assistance to improve product quality.

“The standard is relevant to organisations of all sizes. It also improves the ability to sell that [START] product both locally and internationally. And, when we also move to accreditation to have that product tested and accredited, it means that we can send it anywhere in the world and our buyers will buy it with confidence,” Bennett Templer said.

For his part, Executive Director, BSJ, Dr Velton Gooden, noted that the ISO/IEC 27001 launch was a landmark occasion, which was further pushed by the BSJ after a cyberthreat took place on their agency.

“February 2024, the BSJ, like so many government institutions, had been impacted by a cyberattack. We were very fortunate to detect the malware in our system early and contain it. Nonetheless, it caused significant disruption for us, and in our search to ensure we had a safe ICT environment, we realised that it was time for us to implement the ISO 27001,” Dr Gooden said.

The ISO/IEC 27001 Standard will allow certification, trust and assurance while promoting digital trade, providing greater market access, and building trust and assurance with customers, suppliers and regulators.