CICRA CEO panellist at Pacific Senior Communicators Meeting 2016

CICRA Consultancies Ltd., Sri Lanka’s pioneering information security training and consultancy provider shared its expertise and experiences at the Pacific Senior Communicators Meeting (PSCM) last month in Brisbane, Australia. 

Sponsored by US Pacific Command and hosted by the Australian Defence Force, this program involved over 20 Indo-Asian-Pacific nations.Cyber professionals from around the world gathered at this event to network and build lasting relationships that would facilitate private and public cyber education, threats and information sharing. 

Upon receiving a personal invitation, CICRA Consultancies Ltd. CEO Boshan Dayaratne participated as a panellist in the PSCM to discuss the importance of federated partnerships between government organisations to address the growing threat and information sharing needs within the cyberspace. The discussion also addressed the ongoing efforts of sharing information to prevent hostile acts against the US and partner nations.

The panellists were representatives of multinational businesses and internationally renowned Information Security consultancy firms. Dayaratne carried out an extensive discussion and debate with the rest of panellists – Gregory Fresnais from Cyber Test Systems, Dr. Mark Gaborik from Dell,Rolando Ong from FireEye, Derek Watkins from McAfee and Rob Shaughnessy from Deloitte. 

Dayaratne has represented CICRA Consultancies and Sri Lanka at PSCM since 2013. He as a panellist has contributed to PCSM discussions in 2012 in Singapore, 2013 in Thailand and 2015 in Philippines.

Nearly 50 military communication experts participated in the PSCM. Major General Renuka Rowell was amongst the military personnel invited from Sri Lanka. 

PCSM is an annual gathering of the senior military communication professionals from each of the Pacific Endeavour participant nations. It provides a venue to discuss and address Asia-Pacific strategic and operational matters in a multinational forum and serves as a Multinational Communications Interoperability Program (MCIP) senior steering committee that provides guidance on the objectives and concept for the upcoming year’s MCIP cycle and Pacific Endeavorevent.

The event comprised four tracks that were carried on simultaneously.Among them, were the information sharing modules that will cover information assurance/computer network defence (Cyber Endeavor) and spectrum management (Phoenix Endeavor), which ran the entire two weeks with various US Department of Defence, and Industry Subject Matter Experts providing instructions.

Dayaratne takes great effort to develop the cyber security capabilities of Sri Lanka through training and development, so as to be on par with technologically advanced nations in the region. 

“It was an honour to present at the Pacific Senior Communicators Meeting panel discussion. I believe that forging relationships with other nations in the region is an important step towards developing resilience to natural disasters. It’s time we learn to tear down barriers and solve problems together. Pacific Endeavor was a great opportunity to forge durable relationships. Should we need assistance in future, now we know that there are people we can rely on. When a deadly disaster occurs, people come in with good intentions to help one another, but you can’t successfully carry out humanitarian assistance unless there is effective communication and coordination,” Dayaratnesaid. 

Overall, the event aimed to improve disaster relief, collaboration, and informationsharingduringnaturaldisastersbetweenthecountries’ militaries,governmentorganisations,internationalhumanitariancommunity, civilianandprivatesectororganisations. 

Many of the world’s deadliest natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons occur in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. Catastrophic forces of nature take the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year. 

When disaster strikes, cellphone towers tend tolose signals, internet service providers go dark thus restricting information from getting in or out. The discussions emphasised that in today’s world, the accessibility to communication is just as important as food, water and shelter during natural disasters. 

The Pacific Endeavour is the only event of its type to bring together senior communicators to share experiences and forge relationships. Moreover, it’s a great opportunity for small nations to network with others in the Pacific Region.