Cyber Security Program

About Us

The CICTE Secretariat employs an integral approach to building cyber security capacity in OAS Member States, recognizing that the responsibility for securing cyberspace lies with a wide range of national and regional entities from the public and private sectors working on both policy and technical issues.

The efforts of the Secretariat are oriented towards the development and enhancement of skills which principally relate to cyber incident response, system monitoring and alert, and mitigation of cyber security threats, as well as effective coordination at both national and regional levels.

The CICTE Secretariat has worked on improving the capabilities of Member States in cyber security since the Third Regular Session of CICTE in 2003. In 2004, at the General Assembly of the OAS, Member States adopted the Inter-American Strategy to Combat Threats to Cyber Security in Resolution AG / RES. 2004 (XXXIV-O/04). In addition to combating cyber crime and promoting a culture of cyber security, the strategy calls upon Member States to establish national groups for "alert, monitoring and warning" known as Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs), and to establish a hemispheric contact network composed of members of these CSIRTs. In order to achieve this objective, the Inter-American Cyber Security Strategy and the CICTE Work Plan mandated the Secretariat to provide technical assistance to Member States, to raise awareness on cyber security issues, facilitate the creation and development of national CSIRTs, and promote the creation of a hemispheric network of CSIRTs and cyber security experts.

Since 2007, the CICTE Secretariat has endeavored to create a comprehensive capacity building program based on workshops, technical courses, roundtable policy discussions, crisis management exercises, and the exchange of best practices. These activities have significantly developed and furthered the cyber security agenda in the Americas. As evidence of these efforts, the number of National CSIRTs in the region has increased from 4 to 16 in the last five years. At the same time, the CICTE Cyber Security Program has been implementing a series of National Technical Assistance Missions, which focus on the needs and characteristics of individual countries of the Americas. These missions can be aimed at CSIRT creation, national strategy development, or awareness raising, among other topics.

In March 2012, “Strengthening Cyber Security in the Americas” was adopted as the central theme of the Twelfth Annual Regular Session of CICTE. During this meeting, CICTE highlighted the need to bolster the cyber security and resilience of critical infrastructure related to information and communications technologies (ICTs), with special emphasis on critical governmental institutions as well as those relevant for national security, energy, finance, transport, and telecommunications. The CICTE Secretariat was tasked with the creation of a platform for participation, cooperation, and the exchange of information from the public and private sectors, as well as others entities with a stake in cyber security. In addition, they were called on to support the Member States in the development of national campaigns to encourage safe practices related to information and communication technologies.