At the meeting opened the day before, the specialists pointed out that legislation in Latin America is lagging behind in this area and there are only a few countries that have established infrastructure protection programs or a prevention plan.
At the meeting, sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (Parlatino) in this capital, its chair, Argentinian Silvia Giacoppo, pointed out that a third of Latin American countries have no legal framework against cybercrime and only five countries in the Region have joined the Budapest Convention.
“According to estimates, the economic damage caused by cyber attacks could exceed 1.0 percent of gross domestic product in some countries, and even up to six percent in the case of attacks on critical infrastructures,” he emphasized.
Other panelists commented that the authorities have noticed that companies who have been victims of this type of crime prefer not to report it in order not to damage their reputation. Citizens don’t either, often out of a lack of trust in the authorities or fear that the government itself will steal their information without permission, they commented.
For his part, Crime Stoppers regional director Alejo Campos pointed out that with the Covid-19 pandemic, cybercrime has increased by 600 percent and the global loss from this scourge is estimated at $10.5 trillion a year.
To avoid such an attack, they warn, we first protect our data on social networks or on the devices we use every day, mobile, tablet or computer.
In Panama, the most common crimes are attacks on emails and cyber fraud against the private sector, which is on the rise, they narrowed down in several interventions.
In this context, Ricaurte González, from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Intellectual Property and Computer Security, clarified the lack of updating the regulations, stressing that blackmail to avoid the publication of intimate images or videos of the victims or bullying, nevertheless they are not part of the catalog of crimes.
According to the organizers, the purpose of the debate in this forum is to raise awareness of cyber threats at the political level in order to later produce laws or other initiatives that are suitable for effectively protecting the population.
In addition to Parlatino, the Forum is also sponsored by the Regional Office of Crime Stoppers (CS-CBLA), the International Republican Institute and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Regional Alliances for Democracy and Development Program with Latin America.
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