EU CyberNet LAC4 – Latin America and Caribbean Cyber Competence Centre

Summary

LAC4 is a regional cybersecurity competence centre with a physical facility in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. LAC4 offers trainings and consultations for the whole LAC region, covering incident response, strategy implementation, national risk assessments, exercises and more. The centre was officially opened in 2022.

Details

Aim

EU CyberNet provides enduring lead support to the establishment and operationalisation of the regional training centre LAC4 that serves as a focal point for sharing EU’s collective expertise, building up local capacity, facilitating collaboration on joint projects and actions, and promoting the benefits of an open, free and inclusive cyberspace.

The Centre focuses its activities on cybersecurity, cybercrime and digital security, including security aspects of digital society and digital ecosystems. The principle target groups for the Centre’s training activities are national cybersecurity organisations and critical information infrastructure operators in both public and private sectors. The LAC4 offers trainings both at strategic/policy and technical levels.

Context

Latin America and Caribbean Cyber Competence Centre LAC4 is implemented by EU CyberNet and funded by the European Union, established in 2022 with the physical training facility in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic.

LAC4 is a:

• state-of-the-art hybrid training facility, digital forensics lab and cyber range;
• capacity to develop and provide technical, policy and strategic level courses and simulation;
• platform for doctrine development and research coordination;
• channel to cyber capacity building projects, training modules and materials developed in the EU.

The LAC4 trainings will address:

• cybersecurity awareness;
• cyber emergency management and crisis response;
• National Cybersecurity Strategies’ implementation;
• nation-wide cyber risk assessment;
• information security; and
• cybersecurity exercises.

Activities

Planned activities include national and regional seminars (online and in-person) based on train-the-trainer principles, consultations, conferences and exercises.

As of end of 2022, the LAC4 has conducted the following activities:

• November 2022 – EU CyberNet external Cyber Capacity Building training for LAC region 
• November 2022 – Carribbean Regional Cybersecurity Exercise ”CyberCrabs 2022”
• November 2022 – Digital forensics training
• October 2022 – Workshop on IT Vulnerability Assessments
• October 2022 – Cyber diplomacy course in Quito
• October 2022  –Workshop on Crisis communication management
• May 2022 – Inaugural Conference of the Latin America and Caribbean Cyber Competence Centre (LAC4)
• May 2022 – Cybersecurity Awareness seminar for diplomats in the Dominican Republic
• May 2022 – National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Seminar for the Dominican Republic
• May 2022 – Training Course on “Information Security for CISOs” in the Dominican Republic
• April 2022 – Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with Ecuador to support LAC4 sub-regional activities
• April 2022 – Regional training for 8 countries on Cyber Crisis Management procedures and practices
• April 2022 – Support for Guyana in developing and testing a national cyber preparedness and response plan
• March 2022 – International introductory workshop for Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica on cybercrime in the fields of human trafficking, arms running and narcotic substances
• March 2022 – Cyber awareness raising seminars in Uruguay
• Jan 2022 – LAC4 scoping visit to Ecuador
• Jan 2022 – Regional training on “Designing and Executing Cybersecurity Exercises”
• July 2021 – Executive Cybersecurity and Digital Society Seminar

Past and future activities can be visited here.