By Prince Moore
The Office of Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Management [ODPEM] says government-controlled data associated with the Support Jamaica platform has been moved to a secure government environment.
Support Jamaica is the official online platform established by the government to coordinate relief, channel donations and support recovery efforts following Hurricane Melissa.
ODPEM says the migration fulfills an earlier commitment to regularise the platform’s hosting arrangements and ensure information entrusted to Support Jamaica is securely maintained within the appropriate Government environment.
The agency had previously acknowledged that the migration was not completed within the expected timeframe and said steps were being taken to expedite the process.
Trudy Deans, Chairman of the ODPEM Board, says the agency recognises the importance of transparency, accountability and responsible management of information entrusted to the government.
ODPEM says its priority remains protecting the information associated with Support Jamaica and that it remains the data controller for information collected through the platform and is responsible for determining how that information is used and processed.
It says Amber Innovations Limited, which provided the technology and temporary hosting environment, never owned the personal information collected through Support Jamaica.
ODPEM also says there has been no evidence that the data was compromised at any time. It says access to the information remains restricted to authorised personnel and approved purposes, with appropriate security and audit controls in place.