Acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Cory Belfon, says given recent events regarding cyber attacks, the ministry continues to put measures in place to mitigate against these incidents while at the same time maintaining public trust.
He made the comments while speaking on day two of the UN Big Data Forum, which was held at the Hyatt Regency hotel on yesterday.
Noting that data protection and open data are not mutually exclusive, Belfon emphasised there are also continued efforts by the ministry to build public trust and confidence.
"We are currently actively working on both our efforts to emphasise privacy, build public trust and confidence and maintain the security of our data. These are based upon three major areas of work," he said.
Belfon explained this included the full proclamation of the Data Protection Act which the ministry hopes to conclude by the end of 2024.
Also, he said associated with the Act is the operalisation of the Office of the Information Commissioner, which will also be completed during 2024.
"Thirdly, we have placed the highest priority on building a robust cybersecurity environment including ensuring that public sector digital transformation initiatives include security by design as one of their design principles," Belfon said.
He also spoke about facilitating the development of T&T's national data strategy.
"As we work together to build a digital T&T we find ourselves on the cusp of a brave and exciting new world. This is truly a time of disruption. The effective management of data is critical for ensuring this transformation is positive and beneficial for all of our citizens.
"The national data strategy is needed to meet the very diverse needs of a wide variety of stakeholders in civil society, private sector and the Government," he explained.
Belfon further noted that it focuses on maintaining high data standards, flexibility and reliability including international practices for data use.
This strategy, he said, is a collaborative effort that seeks to harness the transformative power of data for a brighter and a more equitable future, serving as a blueprint to improve decision-making, protect privacy rights, ensuring data security and fostering transparency.
"We at the ministry consider data to be one of the foundation stones upon which the national digital transformation agenda is constructed.
"We digitise data and digitising data enables us to digitalise our systems and business processes. This, in turn, enables the creation of the enabling environment in which digital transformation can occur," Belfon added.
Saying that this country has traditionally relied on the energy sector to drive economic growth and development, Belfon noted that in recent times the need to identify and take full advantage of the many opportunities that present themselves in this new digital age has been increasingly recognised.
"As we continue to digitise and digitalise, we are starting to see the emergence of another key strategic resource which is our data and of course, of the key characteristics of data as a strategic asset is that it is not a finite resource but is in fact, increasing exponentially in both size and scope," Belfon added.