CATA Cybersecurity Working Group Kicks Off 2026 Agenda: Practical Path for Stronger Defences
- CATA Admin
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
The CATA Cybersecurity Working Group held its second virtual call on 15 January 2026. Mr Ashvin Luckoo, who serves as Chair of the CATA Cybersecurity Working Group and is Section Head in the Information Systems Department at the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA).He oversees the MOI Data Centre and cybersecurity functions.
In his opening remarks, the Chair highlighted that while Mauritius is a small jurisdiction, cybersecurity best practices remain universal: while the context may differ, the fundamentals of strong security hygiene are the same worldwide. He stressed the importance of collaboration, trust, and delivering practical outcomes over the Working Group’s three-year mandate.
The Cybersecurity working group, which formed its core membership during the 1st call held on 24 Sept 2025 welcome several CATA jurisdictions to the 2nd call. Representatives from The Gambia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Gibraltar, Maldives and others introduced themselves, reinforcing the group’s peer-to-peer learning approach. Mr Ismaila Jawara, Senior Cybersecurity Officer at the Gambia Revenue Authority reaffirmed his role as Vice Chair, emphasising that effective cybersecurity requires collective effort across policy, technical, and operational fields.
A key highlight of the meeting was a presentation by Brunei Darussalam, focusing on Application Programming Interfaces (API) security and inter-agency data exchange, zero-trust architecture, digital ID integration, and vendor risk management. The discussion that followed identified common challenges across member administrations, including skills shortages, legacy systems, identity and access management, incident response readiness, and supply-chain risk.
The Working Group agreed to develop a practical roadmap with measurable outcomes, shared priorities, and capacity-building actions, to be finalised by March 2026. This roadmap will guide future quarterly sessions, simulations, and peer reviews aimed at strengthening cybersecurity resilience across CATA member administrations.
The meeting concluded with a strong commitment from members to actively contribute and translate shared learning into tangible improvements within their respective tax administrations.
