The Organization of American States (OAS) together with Cisco, announced today the opening of a fund of US$150,000 to finance innovation projects in Latin America. The fund seeks to foster creativity and innovation in the execution of cybersecurity projects in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The process and requirements to submit projects will be announced soon.

Mantener el funcionamiento de los sistemas de justicia en tiempos de Coronavirus, tiene relevancia y carga con este peso: que incluso en medio de una crisis sanitaria de proporciones y consecuencias como la actual, y en medio de medidas extremas y limitaciones a nuestros derechos y garantías; no sólo en teoría, sino materialmente -en la realidad-, debe haber acceso a mecanismos de solución de conflictos y de amparo de garantías y derechos, y estos mecanismos operar, incluso frente a la autoridad investida de facultades extraordinarias, y por cierto frente a otros particulares que abusen de sus libertades o derechos, de su posición, situación, o lisa y llanamente cometan delito.

The US Department of Justice is remaining vigilant in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting wrongdoing related to the crisis.  In a memo to U.S. Attorneys, Attorney General Barr said, "The pandemic is dangerous enough without wrongdoers seeking to profit from public panic and this sort of conduct cannot be tolerated."

Fraud Alert: Be aware that criminals are attempting to exploit COVID-19 worldwide through a variety of scams.

La Comisión Interamericana de Telecomunicaciones (CITEL) elaboró un banco de datos que recopila las acciones adelantadas por Estados Miembros de la OEA y el sector productivo en tecnologías de la información y comunicaciones – TICs- en respuesta a la COVID19. Dentro de esta iniciativa, se estableció una serie de recomendaciones, agrupadas en los temas más relevantes.  Adicionalmente, la CITEL ha realizado mesas redondas que han permitido conocer más a fondo las perspectivas de todos los actores, detallar el alcance de algunas de estas experiencias y poder afrontar acciones de la mejor manera. Las acciones se han recopilado y clasificado con base en las siguientes recomendaciones.

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads around the world, the European Union and its Member States have observed cyber threats and malicious cyber activities targeting essential operators in Member States and their international partners, including in the healthcare sector. Since the beginning of the pandemic, significant phishing and malware distribution campaigns, scanning activities and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have been detected, some affecting critical infrastructures that are essential to managing this crisis.

The initiative allows MSMEs to access electronic commerce easily and free of charge. The "OAS Plan for MSME Digitalization" is available to all micro and small companies in the country, as well as to any entrepreneur, regardless of whether or not they are formalized. Through digitization and foray into electronic commerce, it is intended that non-formalized companies become professionalized and formalized.

Given the importance of communications and with the aim of promoting debate, cooperation and regional coordination in the field of telecommunications that facilitate the fight against COVID-19, A space will be added on the CITEL website to share the actions that governments and companies are carrying out. In this way, best practices can be shared and citizens will be kept informed. CITEL members are invited to share the information or links related to these actions to make them public on our portal, by email [email protected]

Latin America and the Caribbean have presented one of the fastest rates of Internet growth since the beginning of the century. With a more than 2000% increase in the number of Internet users between the years 2000 and 2018, this access has brought numerous opportunities for the region. However, this growth has also created new cyber threats, requiring the development of public policies to protect users and ensure a secure and open Internet for all.

This briefing provides a snapshot of cybercrime threats within the context of the COVID19 pandemic. It has been sourced from confidential debriefs of UNODC law enforcement, governmental, NGO, academic, media, open-source and private sector partners around the world during early April 2020.

In any financial transaction, knowing your customer is essential to ensure that the funds involved are not linked with crime and terrorism.  However, in a digital context, traditional verification tools do not apply. The FATF has developed guidance that will help governments, financial institutions, virtual asset service providers and other regulated entities determine whether a digital ID is appropriate for use for customer due diligence.