The public remain in the dark about who was responsible for a crippling cyberattack on the Government a fortnight ago, while the Premier has flown off the island for the second time since it happened.

Hackers infiltrated the Government’s IT systems on September 20, and investigations continue into how the breach happened and whether any confidential data about Bermuda’s citizens was accessed.

David Burt told a press conference on Thursday that so far there was no evidence that personal information was exfiltrated, adding that he was restricted in how much he could say about the attack.

“We know that there has been feedback about the Government only sharing limited detail thus far, and I absolutely understand that there are still questions the public would like answered about this incident,” the Premier said.

“However, it is essential that we maintain the confidentiality of specific operational information to safeguard the ongoing investigation and to protect the security of our system.

“As the community can appreciate, this remains a very sensitive matter.”

Mr Burt flew to Washington on September 21, the day after the attack was discovered, prompting questions from Opposition leader Jarion Richardson about why he left during the crisis.

The Premier is now in Europe for a week of meetings with officials in Brussels, Paris and London, returning on Saturday.

Back at home, the Government is keeping the public abreast of how the breach is affecting services with periodic updates.

The most recent media release was on Sunday, when a spokeswoman said that while full e-mail services were not yet working, critical user e-mails and other services, such as automated border control, accounting functions and the Department of Planning, were expected to be restored over the coming days.

She said phone services were also in the process of coming back online, with complete restoration also expected in the coming days.

A service delivery update issued on Monday noted that the government e-mail system and switchboard remained out of service but that cashier services had returned to the ground floor of the Government Administration Building.

The full list of services that are working is here.

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List Gov Depts operational Oct 2 2023.pdf

The Premier fielded numerous questions from reporters at Thursday’s press conference but often was unable to give direct or detailed responses, citing the investigation.

The Royal Gazette has submitted a raft of questions to the Department of Communications in the past two weeks, many of which remain unanswered.

They include a request for a breakdown of spending on cybersecurity by the Government in recent years and how many of the objectives in the 2019 Bermuda Cybersecurity Strategy have been achieved.

The Royal Gazette has also asked to see the report produced by the Home Office in March after it conducted a National Cyber Risk Assessment alongside the Ministry of National Security’s cybersecurity and disaster risk reduction and mitigation teams.

Mr Burt told a September 25 press conference that cybersecurity was moved to the Ministry of National Security “as we view it as a national security issue, far broader than a technical issue, and there has been significant work that has been done”.

Flanked by members of the Cabinet, he said there were “many ministers around me who have been locked out of their accounts because they haven’t completed the monthly and regular training”.

The Gazette has asked for more information about the training and which ministers were locked out of their accounts, but has had no response.

A government spokeswoman said last night: “As the Government has indicated in several public updates and briefings, the recent cyber incident has seen a response from many entities, both locally and internationally, who have reached out to offer and/or lend support to Bermuda.”

She added: “In the wake of the cyber incident, our number one priority remains the safety and security of our citizens.

“As the public can appreciate, for security reasons, this still remains a very sensitive time. And for security reasons, there is limited information that can be shared as the integrity of the restoration process must be protected.

“The Government’s focus has been on safely restoring system functionality, particularly those systems that support providing services to the public and the work that continues to be done has significantly advanced the restoration and recovery effort.

“The Government extends its thanks and gratitude to all the public servants and private sector entities who have worked around the clock to aid in re-establishing our operations.”