Putting Government services online for citizens to access is not as simple as providing a website on which one can fill forms for, say, applying for a new birth certificate or a new passport. Although in the end, the aim is for that simplicity and convenience to be provided to the people. Behind the scenes, the work is onerous and lengthy, one that comes with multilayered social, economic and technological considerations that range from accessibility to inclusiveness to security and safety of data and people online among other things. As they are being addressed, they slowly build up a nation’s digital profile brick by brick. For Fiji, it’s work that began five years ago. “Fiji has been actively engaged in digital initiatives to transform Government services and how the Government conducts its business,” Permanent Secretary for Trade and Communications, Shaheen Ali said in his opening speech at the Cybersecurity Forum in Suva on Monday. “These initiatives have the primary objective of bringing government services closer to people, as well as instilling efficiency in the facilitation of government services and transactions.” The forum was organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership with the Pacific (DCCP). Through the DCCP initiative, USAID had organised an interactive session between the Fiji Government and the Illinois Institute of Technology Center for Cyber Security and Forensics Education director Dr Maurice Dawson. The meeting took place at the University of the South Pacific early this week and allowed representatives from government agencies, and non-governmental organisations representing minorities, to raise the challenges they face regarding cybersecurity.
Data exchange platform
Mr Ali told the forum that “a national Data Exchange Platform (DXP) was established in 2019, as part of the digitalFIJi initiative which enables for accurate, secure and close to real-time person and entity information-sharing from the source agencies to a number of government ministries and statutory agencies.” “Built on this resilient and secure platform, we have digitalised and provided secure access to key government services — such as the Registrar of Companies system, Births, Deaths and Marriages registration and Vaccinations Registry System, which are already online, and various services are earmarked to be digitalised.” “In addition, in terms of Ease of Doing Business, the BusinessNow Project will bring 25 e-services from 16 government agencies online. “This project aims to simplify and make accessible the Starting a Business and the Building Permits Approvals process,” Mr Ali said. This progress, however, has not been an all-inclusive exercise.
Disabled and technology
For the minority groups in society, technological progress has been an uphill climb. “We realise that once conversation on digital started happening, there has been very little attention given to children with disabilities, and especially those in schools,” Inclusive Development for The Pacific Disability Forum manager Sainimili Tawake said. Very little attention, she said, is being paid to people with disabilities when it comes to technology, especially disabled children. She said there were totally blind children, who read using the braille system, that were left behind when it came to smartphones and technology. “In Fiji, we have about 17 or 18 special schools and the availability of accessible technology to allow children with disabilities to learn, to gain quality education to advance, and also, to go into the workforce (is an issue). “The biggest challenge that we’re seeing is the need for Assistive Technology and also the transition to accessible technology. “There is the conversation about how totally blind children, or totally blind people who use braille all the time, over the years, and now the invasion of smartphones, and then the cost around that. “Children’s access around that are quite difficult and also trying to understand how to configure, and move around, and use a smartphone technology in schools to allow them to have effective learning.”
Ms Tawake said addressing the issue of accessibility for persons with disability could allow them to participate well in their own communities. “We apologise for the delay from our end to sign this memorandum that we need to work on. This is also that we’re targeting other countries in the Pacific, to work with us on this particular area. “This is an issue for us, and we hope that with this partnership, we will develop and collaborate more meaningfully with DCCP as well as other countries in the Pacific. “And then we’re talking about non-discrimination, we’re talking about our legislation and our policies, the resourcing of it. It’s fine to have legislations, it’s fine to have policies and all that but we find it very difficult because while those legislation and policies are sitting there, or some survey reports, the implementation of those recommendations and those reports are not being done. “And who is the most affected? It’s us.”
Cybersecurity
Across the spectrum, an issue was raised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cyber safety advocate Savenaca Siwatibau on critical infrastructure associated with cybersecurity and economic development. And the need to have them operating day and night, 24/7. “In this interconnected world that we are living in, most of them are going into automated process. “We are working towards providing a framework that will be able to provide a layer of protection over these critical infrastructures’ agencies. Currently there’s none so they are working in silos in their own organisations.
“We are very fortunate that most of them are aligned to meet the international standards, so they have these international standards that they need to get their organisations to adhere. “Most of them have standards of cybersecurity in their own organisation, but we would like to address that in a more holistic approach so that we see that there will be minimal downtime in any cyber incident happening in any of this critical infrastructure.” Mr Siwatibau said they were working towards achieving this target by the end of this year.
New issues
After listening to the concerns raised by the local representatives, Dr Dawson said there were initiatives that could be taken to help resolve some of the challenges faced. “What I hope to do is provide knowledge that can be used to help strengthen the whole digital economy here because these are new issues. “The new issues will be artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, which will change the landscape.” Mr Ali provided the forum with his insights on the National Digital and Cybersecurity Strategy currently being developed. “In terms of developing an overall framework, we are collaborating with the ITU in shaping our National Digital Strategy, which is progressing, with the completion of the first round of consultations and an upcoming validation workshop scheduled for the end of May.
National Cybersecurity Strategy
“Our National Cybersecurity Strategy is being developed in conjunction with the Government of Australia and to formalise the partnership the Prime Minister of Fiji and the Foreign Minister of Australia are due to sign an MoU at the end of the month,” Mr Ali said. “We are also taking concrete steps towards acceding to the Budapest Convention, aligning our strategies with the evolving threat landscape and global best practices. “Our proactive cybersecurity measures include the ongoing 2nd Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) Assessment. Fiji’s pioneering use of this assessment tool in 2015 marked a milestone, and the timing of our second assessment is both strategic and imperative. “Support, such as accredited training for technical teams, embedding of technical experts in ministries, funding of positions and continuously enhancing the security of our ICT infrastructure, are some of the needed support areas, and we look forward to support in this regard,” Mr Ali said.
