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OAS to Support Paraguay in the Development of its National Cyber Security Plan

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and Minister David Ocampos, head of the National Secretariat for Information and Communication Technologies (SENATICS) of Paraguay announced today that the OAS Cyber Security Program will support the country in the development of its national cyber security strategy.

The announcement was made during a meeting at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, which was also attended by the Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the institution, Ambassador Elisa Ruiz Diaz, the Secretary for Multidimensional Security of the OAS, Ambassador Adam Blackwell, and the OAS Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE), Neil Klopfenstein, among other authorities.

At the meeting, Secretary General Insulza pledged to make available all technical resources the organization has developed in recent years in this area to Paraguayan institutions, and to continue to work with international partners in the field, to contribute the process of the national plan. "This is an issue that concerns ordinary citizens even more than other security issues, it is one of the challenges that accompanies development and has become a key issue for the Secretariat for Multidimensional Security of the OAS" he said.

The leader of the hemispheric institution recalled that the importance of generating capacity in cyber security was a topic discussed in the events prior to last OAS General Assembly, held in Paraguay in June, during which the report "Cybersecurity Trends in Latin America and the Caribbean" was presented. This report describes and evaluates the major trends in the region with respect to the threats to the cyber domain and those who depend on it, from government agencies to private businesses and individual users. The paper also analyzes the progress made by different government authorities to address more adequately the challenges they face in a world that is increasingly connected and dependent on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

For his part, Minister David Ocampos, head of SENATICS, welcomed the OAS contribution to the development of professionals in this area and the creation of an alliance network for sharing experiences and approaches to address the demands of cyber security. "Every day we are more convinced that the value of the economy and the competitiveness of our people are in the means of information. We are talking about citizens who are online and have permanent access to the network, but that is nothing if it is not accompanied by a plan to provide security to governments and people, and that is why is important that we further strengthen the system," said Minister Ocampos.

The head of the SENATICS said Paraguay aims to become in the short term a model system in cyber security for the Latin American community and said that the Cyber Security Program of the OAS has become a regional leader in the field, and welcomed the support of the OAS to develop the National Cyber Security Strategy.

The Paraguayan representative explained that after making internal studies his government sent a request to the Council of Europe to be treated as a State party to the Convention on Cybercrime of the organization - known as the "Budapest Convention" - in order to continue building bridges which will facilitate the fight against cybercrime.

Neil Klopfenstein, Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE), gave an overview of the different training activities organized by the OAS that Paraguayan officials have benefited from in recent years, and reiterated that this support will continue and even increase with the adoption of the National Cybersecurity Strategy. In that vein, it was announced that in the coming weeks, representatives of the Group of Experts on Cyber Crime of the Meetings of Ministers of Justice or Other Ministers or Attorneys or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJAs) will gather at Asunción to provide training to judges of Paraguay and representatives of other OAS member states.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-476/14