The Government’s Chief Information Security Officer highlighted how at least 200 cybersecurity breaches affect Bermuda at present.

Anthony Francis, who addressed members of the Hamilton Rotary Club at the Harbourfront Restaurant yesterday, also said that opening a seemingly normal text message while commuting to work can impact systems across the island.

He said: “You get into the office [after opening the message], log into your e-mail using the same password you’ve had for the last six years because it’s easy to remember and you get on with your day.

“By 9am, that password is in some malicious hacker’s database. By 10am, whoever has access to that database is inside your home network.”

Mr Francis explained: “By the end of the day, what started out as a text message has now touched a household, a business and every operation that has the same provider.”

He added: “Imagine somebody orchestrating it on purpose, a nation-state actor, with the resources and the patience targeting financial jurisdictions, ports, energy utilities or governments holding sensitive data — Bermuda is on that list.”

The comments came months after an official report into a 2023 cyberattack that crippled government IT systems was tabled in the House of Assembly.

The report from a four-person joint select committee into the incident recommended that the Government dedicate adequate funds, resources and employees to tackle cybersecurity.

Mr Francis, head of the National Cybersecurity Unit, said the group tracks “at least 100 vulnerabilities, and more than 200” breaches that, as of yesterday, “directly or indirectly affect Bermuda”.

He added that one wrong government decision could make Bermuda susceptible to a cyberattack and urged everyone to develop a cybersecurity governance plan for their businesses and families.

He explained: “I will not come and sit at your leadership board and write your policies for you — but I am the guy that gets the report when your business is attacked and makes sure the reason your business was attacked doesn’t happen again.”

• Contact cybersecurity@gov.bm for more information