Romania’s Gov’t considers syllabus to include cyber security class.
The Regional Cybersecurity Summit kicked off at the Parliament Palace on Monday, where 17 states in Central and South-Eastern Europe are invited to present “their policies in the cybersecurity area,” to approach “topics such as the cyber threats and vulnerabilities” and to identify “opportunities for international and regional collaboration.”
Companies and government officials, cybersecurity experts from the public and private environment from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, the USA and Romania are attending the summit.
Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews said in his speech in Bucharest “there are many emerging opportunities to partner with our strong ally Romania to create a more secure cyberspace.”
In his view, Romania is on the front lines of the growing cyber conflict threat in the region, arguing that, in the first half of 2014, the Romanian National Computer Security Incident Response Team issued 54,000 alerts – up from 44,000 alerts in all of 2013. “We in the United States face this same threat, and we are eager to collaborate with you to face this emerging danger. I believe that one of the best ways we can help Romania protect its critical infrastructure from hostile invaders is through the innovative technologies provided by America’s world-class IT companies – including those with us here today,” Andrews told the summit’s guests.
The U.S. official however remarked that Romania has already proven itself to be a world leader in information technology, exemplifying that Romanian company Bitdefender recently released one of the first security products made specifically for home networks: “Bitdefender Box.”
“Your expertise in this area has not gone unnoticed by American companies. Romanian is now the second most spoken language – after English – in Microsoft offices around the world. Because of the combination of technical sophistication and language skills of your people, major U.S. companies like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Oracle have established regional offices here”, the deputy secretary of Commerce pointed out.
Further on, the U.S. official underlined that there is still much room for growing partnership in this field. Andrews, who is also running a trade mission made of 20 America’s top cybersecurity companies, lobbied for implementation of proper cyber security legislation.
“These firms are all industry leaders – providing cutting-edge technologies, products, and services all over the globe. Some have operated in Romania for decades, while others are looking to do business here for the first time. All of them – working alongside Romania’s own top notch IT companies – can help you achieve your security and economic goals. But in order for this to happen, it is critical that we do not implement laws and regulations that harm cybersecurity, impede interoperability, and hinder innovation”, the U.S. official said.
Andrews argued that there is a rising wave of ‘digital protectionism and digital nationalism around the world, in which governments enact laws and policies to benefit their domestic industries.’ “These actions – in the guise of economic and security regulations – limit economic growth by denying citizens and businesses access to the best technologies in the world. If we’re going to prevent future cyber-attacks, government and industry must work together to evolve and meet our shared challenges. On behalf of the United States Government, we greatly value our close relationship with Romania, and we are committed to strengthening bilateral commercial ties between our countries. Cybersecurity is a perfect example of a sector in which we can work together to increase national and economic security, create jobs, and provide mutual prosperity for both our economies,” the American Deputy Secretary of Commerce concluded.
The 20 American companies who came to Romania to present the latest solutions which the US companies can provide in this area are: Cask, Cisco Systems, Creative Information Technology, CSC, CyberPoint International, Data Locker, F5 Networks, Fidelis Cybersecurity Solutions, FireEye, General Dynamics Information Technology, Glimmerglass Cyber Solutions, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Information Unlimited Inc., Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Oracle, Palo Alto Networks, Raytheon, WhiteHat Security.
PM Ponta: Romania is fighting energy and cyber attack wars
In his turn, Romanian PM Victor Ponta said in the opening of the cybersecurity summit that Romania has a great opportunity of developing cybersecurity together with the USA, and thus becoming a regional leader, as it possesses an undisputed natural wealth, and that is the quality of the people working in this sector.
The prime minister also underlined that Romania represents a stronghold of security in a complicated region, where difficult wars are being carried out, especially in the energy area. “”In this complicated region, where Romania represents a stronghold of security, stability, predictability, we have a few wars we are carrying out at the same time. Fortunately, there aren’t conventional wars, as is unfortunately happening in the east of Ukraine and in other areas, but they aren’t less difficult. We have, in the first place, a war in energy and I was often saying that the main weapon of the Russian Federation in this war isn’t represented by aircraft or tanks or missiles, but is represented by gas and energy with which they can blackmail the region and Europe”, Ponta pointed out. At the same time, each minute, each second there are attacks on the data systems, on the advanced technological, communication systems, that some people, whom you never see on TV, whom the press doesn’t write about, but who exist (…) do their job and manage to block, providing us the capacity of using the internet and the television and the control system of air and railways transports,” Ponta stated.
Grindeanu: Cybersecurity – national governmental priority
Romania’s Minister of Information Society Sorin Grindeanu told a Regional Cybersecurity Summit that cybersecurity and trust in public services are a national priority with the Romanian Government, while Romania is advocating the adoption of a new legislative package regarding personal data protection.
He added that the level of the European citizens’ trust in online services is not encouraging, particularly because they have to reveal too much personal data.
Grindeanu said the ongoing cybersecurity summit meeting in Bucharest will witness two important moments: the initialing of a joint declaration on cybersecurity cooperation in the region, as well as the release of a pilot project for a Centre for Cybersecurity Innovation.
The Regional Cyber Security Summit is organised by the Information Society Ministry, the US Department for Commerce and the Commercial Service of the US Embassy in Bucharest.
In his turn, director of Cyberint Center with the Romanian Intelligence service informed that the Government is considering to get a cybersecurity training class in the current syllabus, arguing that more and more children are exposed to various cyber risks as they have Internet access since earlier ages, including by mobile devices. Florin Cosmoiu explained that the class would be most probably introduced during middle school and children would be thus taught how to avoid accesssing suspect Internet addresses and would be trained not to disclose personal data or to protect their IPs on social media networks or e-mails. According to SRI official, the topic has already been debated in the Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) and in parliamentary committees.