(Editorial Note: A greater section of this articles was reproduced with the permission and courtesy of the Curacao Guardian. The Jewish Journal's Contributor, Dennis Adonis is also the Editor-in-Chief at the Curacao Guardian)
WILLEMSTAD, CURACAO; – The much anticipated Cyber Security and Ethical Hackers Training program that was schedule to be held in Curacao this week, has now been reschedule to the 3rd and 4th of September.
Even though the required training crew and resources were already in place, organizers were unable to proceed with the event since none of the registrants had the required Cyber Security Training Kits, including training manuals.
According to Michael Denny, a retired FBI Cyber Security Specialist and senior training instructor who is heading the project, none of the participants were able to order their training kits on time, since they were only given the opportunity to do so on Monday last.
He suffice that it would have been practically impossible to get the kits into Curacao for today, hence his understanding is that no orders were taken, while a review was underway since Tuesday to consider a new date.
And taking all of the logistics into account Denny and his team felt that the 3rd and 4th of September would have been ideal for the parties involved. As such, the event is now schedule for that date.
However, the trainers will depart Curacao tonight, and will return with other team members again around the 1st of September, by which time all of the participants are expected to acquire their respective training kits.
But even so, all of the previous registered participants would be required to re-register for the event since the rights to co-ordinate it locally was now acquired by Curacao Cyber Guard, an offshore cyber security network that has since implemented a different registration process from what was originally used.
Nonetheless, some degree of priority will be given to the more than sixty people who may have had registered before, even though there is a cut off number of only forty persons to be trained.
Denny said that interested parties can discover new information or learn more about the event by visiting either of its info pages at: http://www.cyberwatchdog.net/curacao.html or at: http://curacaocyberguard.com/event2.html
Thereafter, an interested registrant can sign up by emailing their particulars to: curacao@cyberwatchdog.net or by calling 52-GUARD (524-8273).
The training project, which had previously faced a delayed hurdle prior to today, is seen as a needed one for Curacao, since its primary focus is to help Willemstad in its quest to create a more equipped cyber security interception and response unit.
Several persons in the IT field locally had expressed disenchantment at the postponement and the now required re-registration process. But have since agreed that the new September 3rd date would give prospective participants enough time to acquire the required training kits.
The kits in question are not readily available to the public, and are said to be of the same caliber used by FBI sleuths undergoing training in Cyber Security and Ethical Hacking.
Organizers would have had to satisfied strict international requirements to acquire the kits for the program locally. And this in itself can often delay the delivery process.
Upon completion of the program, trainees are expected to be empowered with needed knowledge on the growing list of advanced cyber security threats, and how to identify, intercept, remove, destroy, deter or block such security threats via advanced ethical hacking and technological engineering techniques.
Even though the event is Free to professionals and managers in the IT field, they are required to secure their own Cyber Security toolkit, which can be acquired for as low as $214 for a low-end single module kit right up to $1800, depending on the preferred components in the respective kit.
The one that will be used by participants in Curacao is said to be costing around $575 each; – an additional financial burden that the event’s donors are unwilling to carry.
It consists of several ethical hacking applications, devices, references and a customize Microsoft Windows tablet computer that serves as a monitor for hacking intrusions outside of its standard user purposes.
Mr. Denny is of the view that since the user assigned encrypted kit will also form a part of each participant’s permanent working tools (after training), it is only fair for them to acquire it at their own cost.
Curacao is not known to have a capable ethical hacker, and is constantly facing various forms of cyber security threats.
