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“The security, resilience, and robustness of computer networks are critical to the development of the digital economy,” Wooding said.
Bevil Wooding, the Caribbean outreach liaison for the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), believes Caribbean countries must strengthen their technological network resilience considering the region is susceptible to extreme weather events and the growing impact of climate change.
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“In today’s world, the security, resilience, and robustness of computer networks are critical to the development of the digital economy,” he said.
“The Caribbean can no longer afford to leave important decisions about network buildout, network resource management and network infrastructure spend only to commercial telecommunications providers. Those issues are now the concern and the responsibility of governments, private network operators and even end users.”
Wooding went on to note: “As a region, we must have a clear, strategic approach to building out Internet infrastructure to drive business innovation and economic development... If we do not act with urgency to address this, the impact on our economic and social development can be more devastating than last season’s hurricanes.”
Apart from hurricanes, and earthquakes in some parts of the Caribbean, technological resilience also refers to the ability of a network to maintain an acceptable level of service when faced with other threats such as hacking and technical misconfigurations, according to Caribbean 360.
Dr. Didacus Jules, Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, stressed that red flags were raised concerning network resiliency and communication infrastructure, especially after last year's devastating hurricane season.
He warned that regions using outdated, failing or secure technology would be left far behind in the global economy.
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