The Government's security-operational center was opened

The opening of the operational center for the Government's information security increased the security of state institutions, businesses and citizens, which means that everyone in Montenegro is now safer in the Internet environment, which is threatened by numerous dangers.

This is the message from the Government's Security Operations Center (G-SOC), which was opened today by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Milojko Spajić.

The Minister of Public Administration Maraš Dukaj, reports the PR Center, emphasized that the conversation with Von der Leyen is an additional incentive for the continuation of reform processes in Montenegro and reminded that after the major cyber attack in August 2022, the need to establish a special unit to deal with by protecting the cyber space of state administration bodies.

"With the adoption of the Rulebook on the internal organization and systematization of the Ministry of Public Administration, the Directorate for Information Security - Government CIRT was formed. The rulebook in question determined the initial required human capacities and defined that the newly established Government CIRT with the Directorate for System and Information and Communication Infrastructure will perform the role of the Government's security operative center - G-SOC", said Dukaj.

From the donations, through the "Cybersecurity Rapid Response I and II" projects financed by the European Union, spatial capacities for the functioning of the G-SOC, as well as additional technical equipment for cyber monitoring, were provided, as he pointed out.

"The role of the Government's CIRT, i.e. the SOC team, which the President of the European Commission had the opportunity to visit, is to monitor the established cyber ecosystem, solve cyber incidents within the network of state administration bodies in the 24/7/365 regime, and work to improve policies and practice and education in the field of information security of public administration employees, with the aim of additional education, underwent numerous cyber exercises and training organized by international partners, and over 100 thousand euros were provided to strengthen spatial and technical capacities of G-SOC", said Dukaj.

He announced that after the adoption of the new Law on Information Security, a legal basis will be created for the Government's CIRT to receive a mandate to protect and monitor the critical IT infrastructure of state administration bodies in a 24/7 regime.

"After the adoption of the Law, legal prerequisites will be created for the establishment of the Cyber ​​Security Agency, which will include the National CIRT, which will achieve one of the goals set by the Cyber ​​Security Strategy of Montenegro 2022-2026." Activities will be undertaken to strengthen the human capacity of the G-SOC team by filling vacant and systematized positions, as well as continuing specialized training. "Through the increase in budget allocations, additional software tools will be acquired to further increase cyber security at the level of state administration bodies in accordance with EU standards in this area," said Dukaj.

He concluded that Montenegro demonstrates a clear commitment to provide a strategic approach, through the adoption of the new Law on Information Security, by following the guidelines of the EU Agency for Cyber ​​Security, while strengthening regional cooperation by establishing the Center for Cyber ​​Capacities of the Western Balkans (WB3C) based in Podgorica. response to the growing challenge posed by the cyber domain.