Here in little young New Zealand, at the Auckland Chapter AGM and meeting, we had a fantastic insight into the raising of a CERT in Tonga, why there was a need to have one at all. 53% of all people in Tonga 107,122 according to 2017 figures, have internet access - this is a small nation. However, they have satellite links with up to 800 Mb/s capabilities, plenty of room for Denial of Service attacks and cyber security issues to arise. A member of the three man CERT team spoke to us about their challenges and what they had seen their including ransomware attacks, false telecommunications towers, attacks against PABX systems, identity theft as they tend to use mobile phones for payments and Internet access rather than ADSL connections etc. Absolutely, fascinating insight into their challenges and why the World Bank is currently reviewing their cyber security challenges across all the Pacific Islands. A very interesting point came up, about the lack of cultural acceptance of women into IT, even though those who return from overseas have the abilities and experience to assist the nation - they themselves are delegated towards administration tasks. A brilliant insight into their challenges and how the modern world impacts on places in the sun, where most of just want to take a holiday and do some Rest and Restoration, without thinking of the underlying issues facing these small nations.
