Bahamas, is an island country of the Lucayan Archipelago consisting of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean; north of Cuba and Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti); northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands; southeast of the U.S. state of Florida and east of the Florida Keys. Its capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The designation of "Bahamas" can refer to either the country or the larger island chain that it shares with the Turks and Caicos Islands. As stated in the mandate/manifesto of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the Bahamas territory encompasses 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.

Originally inhabited by the Lucayan, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taino people, the Bahamas were the site of Columbus' first landfall in the New World in 1492. Although the Spanish never colonized the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera.

The Bahamas became a British Crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. After the American War of Independence, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists in the Bahamas; they brought their slaves with them and established plantations on land grants. Blacks comprised the majority of the population from this period. The Bahamas became a haven for freed black slaves: the Royal Navy resettled Africans here liberated from illegal slave ships; American slaves and Black Seminoles escaped here from Florida; and the government freed American slaves carried on United States domestic ships that had reached the Bahamas due to weather. Slavery in the Bahamas was abolished in 1834. Today the descendants of slaves and free Africans make up nearly 90 percent of the population; issues related to the slavery years are part of society.

The Bahamas became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1973, retaining Queen Elizabeth's II as its monarch. Although it is really an independent nation with its own monarch, a treaty was signed by Elizabeth II and U.S. President Gerald R. Ford on May 10 so as to establish tariff-free imports from Britain and to separate the "mainland" Bahamas from the British Turks and Caicos Islands. In terms of gross domestic product per capita, the Bahamas is one of the richest countries in the Americas (following the United States and Canada). Its economy is based on tourism and finance

A new constitution giving the Bahamas increased control over its own affairs was adopted in 1968.[37] The British House of Lords voted to give the Bahamas its independence on June 22, 1973.[38] Prince Charles delivered the official documents to Prime Minister Lynden Pindling, officially declaring the Bahamas a fully independent nation on July 10, 1973.[39] It joined the Commonwealth of Nations on the same day.[40] Sir Milo Butler was appointed the first Governor-General of the Bahamas (the official representative of Queen Elizabeth II) shortly after independence. The Bahamas joined the International

Money Fund and the World Bank on August 22, 1973,[41] and it joined the United Nations on September 18, 1973

BACKGROUND

Total Population: 351 000

(data source: United Nations Statistics Division, December 2012)

Internet users, percentage of population: 72.00%

(data source: ITU Statistics, December 2013)

1. CYBERSECURITY

1.1 LEGAL MEASURES

1.1.1 CRIMINAL LEGISLATION

Specific legislation on cybercrime has been enacted through the following instrument:

- Computer Misuse Act.

1.1.2 REGULATION AND COMPLIANCE

Specific legislation and regulation related to cybersecurity has been enacted through the following instruments:

- Data Protection Act

- Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.

1.2.1 CIRT

The Bahamas does not have officially recognized national CIRT.

1.2.2 STANDARDS

The Bahamas does not have officially approved national or sector specific cybersecurity framework for implementing

internationally recognized cybersecurity standards.

1.2.3 CERTIFICATION

There is no cybersecurity framework for the certification and accreditation of national agencies and public sector

professionals in The Bahamas.

1.3 ORGANIZATION MEASURES

1.3.1 POLICY

The Bahamas does not have an officially recognized national or sector-specific cybersecurity strategy.

1.3.2 ROADMAP FOR GOVERNANCE

There is no national governance roadmap for cybersecurity in The Bahamas.

1.3.3 RESPONSIBLE AGENCY

There is no officially recognized agency responsible for cybersecurity in The Bahamas.

1.3.4 NATIONAL BENCHMARKING

The Bahamas does not have any officially recognized national benchmarking or referential for measuring

cybersecurity development.

The Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) of the Organization of American States (OAS) conducted a two-day visit to Nassau, Bahamas, from April 24-25, as a part of the technical assistance to be provided to the government of The Bahamas for the development of its national cyber security strategy, through an initiative that will be coordinated by the OAS cyber security program together with the ministry of national security of The Bahamas.

During this visit, a two-day national workshop was held on the development of a national strategy for the establishment of a national computer incident response team (CIRT). The technical mission was led by cyber security specialists from the OAS with the participation of an expert consultant in the area of CIRT development. The group discussed various approaches in the development and implementation of the national strategy, and participants were guided through working group sessions to formulate the main tenets of the strategy.