Cyber Security is an area that the Samoa has been actively pushing to improve with the rapid advancement of technology around the world and that has been given a boost with one of Samoa's finest training in Hawaii.

In light of Samoa Police Prisons and Corrections Services' ongoing work and development on cyber security, Senior Digital Forensics Analyst Fata Timothy Komiti is in Honolulu to attend a Comprehensive Security Cooperation Course (CSC) on Cyber Security.

There is major concern on the increase of cybercrime in Samoa and the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) team from the Ministry of Police have been credited by visiting experts for their commendable work.

After the completion of his course he will be able to utilise his skills for the service to his country and boost the cyber security for Samoa.

The course is offered for mid-level military, government and non-government professionals who intersect with the security sphere.

Part of the course illustrates how cyber security professionals will gain a non-technical, strategic-level, whole-of-society understanding of cyber security by exploring three dimensions: governance, resilience, and recovery.

The Ministry of Police Prisons and Corrections Services made the move to establish a cyber-investigation team. They had an expert fly in from New Zealand who praised the Ministry’s move after the concerning data on cybercrime increasing in the country.

The courses Mr. Komiti will part take in will provide the attendees or security practitioners with the knowledge, resources, best practices, and networks to navigate the cyber security environment and to understand how cyber security affects national and international security.

The Comprehensive Security Cooperation Course will run for the next five weeks. It will explore into strategies, policies international frameworks incident response, cybercrime, privacy and security, and public-private partnerships.

According to the Pacific Island Forum's Security report cybercrime increased as criminal organisations and individuals exploited the opportunities provided through increased reliance on technology for work and business as a result of the pandemic. Online fraud also increased as criminals targeted vulnerable financial systems such as government assistance programs, and informal online shopping platforms through fraudulent applications and phishing scams. 

Reports of cybercrime and cyber-enabled crimes are increasing, with Australia, Kiribati and New Zealand highlighting cybercrime as prevalent domestically in recent feedback to the Forum’s Transnational Organised Crime Working Group. It has been noted that cybercrime and cyber-enabled crimes are under reported in the region, largely due to the low level of cyber security maturity across the region.