NEWS
Dominica adopts ‘ almost counterfeit-proof ’ biometric passports
The Commonwealth of Dominica will spend US $ 13 million to improve and upgrade the border management system on the Caribbean island .
The Minister for National Security and Home Affairs , Hon . Rayburn Blackmoore , made the announcement . Part of the budget will be spent on the servicing of biometric passports in this fiscal year .
The minister said that the initiative would help cultivate a watch list for persons of interest before they arrive in Dominica .
It will also inform officials of passenger information , as well as cargo coming into the country .
He emphasised that e-passports will enable the garnering of incomers ’ fingerprints at the border and allow for the inspection of secondary information .
“ The most important aspect in our border security improvement is our migration from the machine-readable passport to our e-passport or biometric passport , which is almost counterfeit-proof ,” the minister noted .
“ In March of 2021 , we will be moving to new biometric passports in Dominica and Dominica will be the only country , except for the Bahamas , to have those improved passports in the Caribbean and that is development .”
In addition to the new biometric passports , the government recently announced the approval of 231 properties it needs to acquire to build the island ’ s first international airport .
Expert warns US education sector to improve cybersecurity following malware attack
An expert from Nominet has warned the
US education sector needs to increase its cybersecurity measures following an attack on a school district in California .
Online classes at the Rialto Unified School District in California were suspended while officials investigated the nature of a malware attack .
A statement from the body instructed pupils who had assigned devices linked to the district ’ s server to cease using them .
The statement added : “ Officials will soon begin the huge task of collecting school computer equipment from pupils and teachers “ to make sure we keep everything secure .”
Cath Goulding , CISO at Nominet , said she was unsurprised to see that hackers had targeted the education sector .
“ With remote learning increasing , and more reliance on IT infrastructure than ever before , it was only a matter of time until more schools made the criminals ’ hit list . The FBI had previously issued a statement to schools warning of this risk .
“ The move to remote learning has happened at breakneck speed . Digital Transformation that would have usually taken months has happened in weeks and schools are most likely still grappling with the risks .
“ Protecting the education sector will require collaboration between the schools themselves and the various layers of federal and state governments . There will be a degree of educating the educators on the cybersecurity threats they will face .”
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