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Newspaper claims personal data of Trinidadian prime minister compromised

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(CMC) — The personal information of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, including his passport number as well as his date of birth and a post office box address, are among documents found to have been compromised in the cyberattack on the Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), the Trinidad Guardian newspaper has reported.

The paper said that it has obtained a copy of the 6GB of data from TSTT which was uploaded to the dark web, following a cyberattack on the company on October 9, and was able to verify this. It said the data bundle includes scans, a list of names and credentials.

The paper said that Prime Minister Rowley was asked to comment and was sent a copy of the information which the newspaper was able to source and verify, but had not responded.

“The Prime Minister is one of hundreds of customers whose data has been posted online following the data breach at the telecommunications company,” the paper reported, adding that “as of yesterday, the data—which contains 1.2 million names—had been downloaded over 13,000 times from the dark web”.

The story by the newspaper comes as Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales in a statement on Sunday said he was “deeply concerned” about the cyberattack.

Gonsalves said that digital security invasions were becoming an increasingly frequent phenomenon worldwide and that while no organisation or individual was immune to such attacks, the breach of TSTT’s digital security apparatus “is a matter of grave concern to Government.

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“The gravity of the situation warrants a thorough and full-scale investigation to ascertain the facts and circumstances that caused the breach, TSTT’s communications regarding the matter, and the actions the organisation is (and has been) taking to reduce the possibility of future cyber incursions.

“I have therefore spoken with the chairman of TSTT and mandated that the board of directors commissions an independent inquiry into the matter and to make public the facts and findings, in so far as the details do not compromise TSTT’s customer confidentiality or further put at risk the integrity of TSTT’s data or digital infrastructure,” the Public Utilities Minister added.

TSTT last Friday acknowledged that information on some of its customers had been captured following a cyberattack last month.

“During the past seven days, TSTT has been working with its international cyber security experts and has undertaken a rigorous examination of data published on the dark web after a ransomware group claimed ownership of a cyberattack on the telecommunications company.

“Although the published material was easily accessible, the corroboration process was time consuming because it required cross referencing data across multiple extensive databases to verify sources. With the support of our cyber security consultants, the company has determined that the data released contains largely identifying information, and TSTT apologises to those customers whose information was accessed by these cyber terrorists,” the company said in a statement.

The telecommunications company said that it is still scrutinising the data, but that what had been stolen represents less than one per cent of the petabytes of data the company produces and stores.

Late last month, international hackers Ransomexx announced it had infected TSTT with ransomware and stole as many as six gigabytes of its data, including names, e-mail addresses, national ID numbers, phone numbers and “a lot of other sensitive data”.

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REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL SELECTION)

 

OECS MSME Guarantee Facility Project

Loan No.: IDA-62670, IDA-62660, IDA-62640, IBRD-88830, IDA-62650

Assignment Title: Senior Operating Officer (SOO)

Reference No. KN-ECPCGC-207852-CS-INDV

 

The Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have received financing in the amount of US$10 million equivalent from the World Bank towards the cost of establishing a partial credit guarantee scheme, and they intend to apply part of the proceeds to payments for goods, and consulting services to be procured under this project. 

The consultant will serve as the “Senior Operating Officer (SOO)” for the ECPCGC and should possess extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to Micro, small and medium-sized businesses, knowledge of the internal control processes necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk mitigation procedures. The ideal candidate should possess an Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Accounting, Banking or related field, with a minimum of 5 years’ experience in lending, inclusive of MSME lending. The initial employment period will be for two years on a contractual basis. Renewal of the contract will be subject to a performance evaluation at the end of the contractual period. The assignment is expected to begin on September 30th, 2021.  The consultant will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the ECPCGC.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be viewed by following the attached link below. 

 

https://bit.ly/3iVannm

 

The Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC) now invites eligible “Consultants” to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have:

  • An Undergraduate Degree from a reputable college or university, preferably in Business, Finance, Banking or related field; and
  • Minimum of 5 years’ experience in MSME lending. Applicants should also have:
  • The ability to design and implement risk management procedures 
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME lending with some direct experience lending to small and medium-sized businesses
  • Extensive knowledge of MSME banking operations
  • Knowledge of the internal controls necessary for a lending operation and the ability to design and implement risk management procedures
  • Experience developing and presenting information in public, including responding to questions in real-time
  • Experience lending to MSMEs located in the ECCU
  • Knowledge of marketing and communicating with the MSME sector
  • Ability to draft procedures to be used in a lending operation
  • Familiarity with the mechanics of a loan guarantee program
  • Exceptional written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills, and
  • Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite.

The attention of interested Individual Consultants is drawn to Section III, Paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers July 2016, [revised November 2017] (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Approved Selection Method for Individual Consultants set out in the clause 7.34 of the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers. 

 

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 0800 to 1700 hours:

Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation

Brid Rock, Basseterre,

St. Kitts.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form by e-mail by August 11th, 2021, to [email protected]

 

For further information, please contact:

Carmen Gomez-Trigg                                                            Bernard Thomas

Chief Executive Officer                                                          Chief Financial Officer

Tel: 868-620-8144                                                                  Tel: 869-765-2385

Email: [email protected]                                          [email protected]