Senior Political Reporter
Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales has again reiterated that he is prepared to appear before Parliament’s Joint Select Committee to deal with the cyber breach at the Telecommunication Services of T&T (TSTT).
Gonzales made the comment yesterday, after United National Congress MP Barry Padarath called for the JSC to summon Gonzales after Monday’s stinging statements by former TSTT CEO Lisa Agard and CFO Shiva Ramnarine about how the board handled the matter.
Gonzales reinforced his recent position that he was willing to appear before the JSC if needed (as he’d said after the first JSC on the TSTT issue in January).
“And I maintain that position, but I will not be distracted by the sideshow politics that’s being mounted,” Gonzales added, referring to Padarath’s comments.
In a statement, Padarath said, “Several critical issues of national importance have now arisen in the aftermath of Monday’s testimonies by (Lisa) Agard and (Shiva) Ramnarine that only the minister could answer.”
Padarath called on Gonzales to tell the JSC: If Agard communicated directly with him providing updated accurate information that he chose to disregard on October 31, 2023; if Gonzales, through TSTT’s Board, placed a “gag order” on TSTT’s executive management after the cyberattacks; who instructed the board to fire Agard and Ramnarine; why TSTT’s Board hasn’t been fired; if Gonzales had a “role” in the appointment of TSTT acting CEO Kent Western; if Gonzales was made aware of the October 3 breach and the board’s alleged insubordination that “withheld” information from Agard and Ramnarine, and if Gonzales was aware of the conflict between them and TSTT’s Board.
Apart from the external probe into the October 2023 cybersecurity breach at TSTT, which is projected to be completed in March, an internal investigation of the breach by TSTT is also expected to be completed in May.
Gonzales spoke on Monday about the external probe, indicating he was awaiting that report before commenting on certain TSTT matters.
TSTT chairman Sean Roach spoke on January 22 about the timeline for the internal probe when TSTT’s management appeared before the Parliament’s Joint Select Committee (on State Enterprises), when the JSC first dealt with the cyber breach issue.
Subsequently, the JSC also called Agard (who was fired after the cyber breach incident) and Ramnarine (who was also fired) before it on Monday. Both slammed TSTT’s Board.
Agard also commented on Gonzales’ November 9 statement in the Parliament on TSTT and the cyberattack.
Minister Gonzales, who was asked on Monday to comment on Agard’s comments, said he expected the probe he requested into the incident to be ready in March. The external probe was reported to involve a US firm.
Last December, Gonzales said the company which would have conducted that investigation was to be “on board” by end of December and once they were, the probe should take two to three months to complete. Gonzales had said then the results of that external probe would be made public.
In the internal probe, TSTT had engaged local independent company CyberEye to do a root cause and log analysis, assess TSTT’s cyber security control, threat monitoring, detection and other issues internally.
At the January 22 JSC meeting, TSTT management was asked by JSC member, UNC Senator Wade Mark, whether instruction by the Public Utilities Minister to TSTT to do an internal investigation into the cybersecurity breach had commenced and if so, where TSTT was with this internal probe and how soon TSTT would be able to make that available to the public.
Roach had then confirmed to Mark that investigation had commenced, adding, “In terms of duration of the time before we get the final report - 16 weeks.”
Yesterday, Roach did not respond to Guardian Media’s texted query and calls for a timeline on the completion of the probes or for comment on Agard and Ramnarine’s criticism of how they handled the cyber breach matter.
