Protecting…with cybersecurity

In a surreal move last week, AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic said their models – ChatGPT and Claude – “broke out” of their testing environments and HACKED into other companies!! Following them, Meta (Facebook) announced that one of its AI models had hacked into another company during a cybersecurity evaluation!! Meanwhile, several US hedge funds were also targeted by cyber phishing attacks!!
So while the US Deputy Secretary of State Landau’s helping with our national security by funding aerial intelligence to secure our air domain, in this age of hybrid warfare an ever-greater danger is posed by our enemies hacking into our digital infrastructure and bringing all our investments crashing around our ears!! The episodes above, after all, are unfolding against a broader cyber arms race being accelerated by frontier AI models and the inherent risks brought by fast-moving technological capabilities!!
So, to your Eyewitness, it makes sense that while data centres have dominated our first phase of AI CapEx to use our GtE energy – and we’re understandably excited about the prospect of becoming a regional digital hub – cybersecurity has gotta dominate our next spending boom!! Or else, there’s a danger of building the digital equivalent of a heavily fortified warehouse while neglecting the security guards!! Those warnings about the rapidly developing capabilities of autonomous AI agents should be a wake-up call!!
Even more pointedly, reports this week describe what’s being characterised as an “autonomous AI-driven cyberattack” against Taiwanese Government systems, in which multiple AI agents reportedly mapped vulnerabilities, compromised accounts and adapted their tactics as the operation progressed!! The significance for Guyana should be obvious!!
Our Govt is simultaneously digitising Government services, expanding its communications infrastructure, contemplating large-scale data centres and increasingly connecting critical infrastructure to digital systems. Their Digital Guyana strategy recognises the importance of data security – but the US Department of Commerce has identified gaps in our regulatory framework concerning cybersecurity, data protection and AI.
That combination creates an enormous opportunity – but also an enormous target!! We gotta think of cybersecurity as critical national infrastructure – and not merely as an IT department’s responsibility!! But there’s another dimension which we can’t overlook – people!! One of our country’s biggest constraints is our shortage of advanced ICT skills, but instead of treating cybersecurity as another area in which Guyana must perpetually import expertise, the Government has gotta use our oil revenues to create a national pipeline of cybersecurity professionals!! By whatever means necessary!!
Minimally, we have gotta proceed with a zero-trust architecture, least-privilege access, human authorisation for high-risk actions, continuous monitoring, network segmentation, and independent auditing!! We can’t measure our digital transformation by data centre capacity constructed.
The metric is much simpler – can we keep the lights on when somebody – or something – tries to switch them off?

…national patrimony
Your Eyewitness finds it wonderfully convenient about LOO Sanction Man suddenly discovering the importance of scrutinising Government tenders for the new La Grange–Parika highway!! While major public contracts deserve scrutiny, where was the same forensic concern when large tracts of Guyana were being awarded for gold mining and quarrying – his area of business?!!
Highway contracts involve public money and have gotta be transparent. But mining concessions involve something even more fundamental – the allocation of the country’s natural resources. When substantial acreage is granted for gold and quarrying, taxpayers are entitled to know the terms, value, royalties, environmental obligations, and benefits flowing back to the State. Especially from a man the US says evaded billions in taxes by smuggling!!
So let’s scrutinise the La Grange–Parika contract – publish the bids, evaluations, costs and justification. But apply the same standard to Sanction Man’s concessions!! Otherwise, it’s gonna look less like a principled campaign for transparency and more like “scrutinise my opponent’s contracts, but leave my concessions alone.”
What’s fair…

…the CCJ’s honour
The Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission – which appoints Judges to the CCJ – announced it will review the extant potentially fatal brouhaha!! Your Eyewitness suggests incumbent Chair Justice Anderson recuses himself – and Justice Saunders is brought aboard.