THE National Insurance Board (NIB) has called in local and international cyber security experts in response to a ransomware cyber attack on Wednesday.
All NIB offices will stay shut for the rest of this week due to the attack. NIB corporate communications manager Tricia Clarke sent two releases on Wednesday about the hack.
The first statement at 7.46 am announced the cyber attack and the closure of offices. The second, at 6.08 pm, said the NIB was engaging local and foreign experts.
The first statement said, "The company is currently assessing our systems after having experienced a ransomware attack on Tuesday, December 26.
"All steps are being taken to protect our data integrity and technology hardware.
"We are also continuing to diligently work with our external technology partners expeditiously resolve this matter."
The NIB said it reported the incident to the Trinidad and Tobago Cyber Security Incident Response Team (TT-CSIRT) under the Ministry of National Security and was working with them toward a resolution.
"Please continue to monitor our social media pages for any further updates."
Newsday was unable to contact Minister of Digital Transformation Hassel Bacchus, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning or Minister of Public Administration Allyson West.
The second statement said the NIB confirmed that it was experiencing disruptions to its usual operations resulting from the ransomware attack. It said the incident was reported to the Ministry of Digital Transformation.
"Additionally, the NIB has engaged the services of local and international cyber security experts to spearhead the discovery and assessment to mitigate risk."
The NIB spelt out what the disruption would mean for members of the public.
"The organisation notes that all scheduled commitments have been completed for December 2023 and anticipates that all future commitments for January 2024 will be honoured.
"Customers with confirmed appointments during the three-day temporary closure will be facilitated with a new appointment during January 2024."
The NIB will resume all operations on a phased basis from January, with details to be confirmed in subsequent communication.
"All NIB offices will remain closed until Friday, with customer-facing services and the appointment portal being temporarily unavailable during this period."
The organisation again asked the public to monitor its social media pages for updates.
"The NIB remains resolved in its efforts to protect data integrity and technology hardware without further operational disruption."
This is the latest in a string of cyber attacks on public and private entities in Trinidad and Tobago.
In November, Chief Justice Ivor Archie revealed the Judiciary was targeted, while addressing a news briefing at a regional forum of chief justices in Port of Spain.
"In TT – I can speak about that – there have been attempts at penetration, fairly recently, which we were able to contain.
"But I think, as you know, the black hats (malicious hackers) are conti
