In Cyprus , we are trying to coordinate , and that ' s the way we approach cyber-security , the various public stakeholders being the Deputy Ministry of Research and Innovation , the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , the Ministry of Commerce , the Ministry of Justice and , the Ministry of Defense . We are all working as a team to address all the aspects of cyber-security including the legal framework , the capability developments and the technical capabilities but also the business capabilities . Because , unless you can really understand the associated risks of cyber-security on the business , you cannot really approach this properly , there are administrative measures that need to be taken to be able to respond properly on cyber-security incidents . Incident management and incident response . We have now established the existence of an effective public -private collaboration .
The Deputy Ministry of Research and Innovation is currently working in collaboration with the Commissioner and the national security authority of Cyprus on the second version of our strategy , which will be submitted for approval at the Council of Ministers , where there are four main pillars : First is the production and resilience provisions , security measures , risk management across all the Ministries and across all industries as well . Second , Capabilities development . Cyber-security as you very well know , is a topic chapters have not been yet written and the chapters that are already written and authored need to be re-written because is a rapidly evolving technology and its business capabilities needs to be properly followed and always alert . Especially on the response side , on incident management , on crises management , cyber exercises , etc . The Covid-19 pandemic for example has many response capabilities . Allow me to give you examples : When we had to practically lock down our public sector operations , we were not able to have the proper cyber-security protection measures that could allow for the majority of the public sector officers to work from home . Technical capability was in place . Public Sector Officers had their laptops and access to the office , however we were not prepared for such a crisis . Our cyber-security implementation was at the minimum level . Fortunately , we did not face any surprises or at least to the best of our knowledge . There are cases when cyber security incidents take place without even being noticed . The most difficult part of our strategy , that is now elevated into the highest priority of our agenda , is the culture and innovation of cyber-security , the awareness across all Ministries society and industry . How do we innovate ?, How do we collaborate with the industries , and with academia , to orchestrate the cyber-security ecosystem for sharing knowledge and provide innovative solutions on cyber-security or even joining forces in a crisis management for an effective response .
So we put as a high priority of our cyber-security second version strategy , the research and innovation collaboration between industries , the research ecosystem and academia and the public sector . We have established effective mechanisms in this governance mechanism there is a high level committee , a council that consists of all the relevant Ministers with a top down ownership and high-level responsibility on cyber-security matters . In the heart of every cyber-security strategy is the national cyber-security framework , the technical and the organizational capabilities and relevant measures in order to be able to protect and detect , and also to effectively respond when needed . This is a continuous journey . You have to be always alert to minimize the needs for response . This can be achieved by enhancing your prodect and detect capability and be prepared through awareness and capability development both at the technical level but also at the recipient level or the user level . It ' s also very important to fence the legal and regulatory framework that underpins this strategy . Unfortunately , because we are a European Union country , a lot of legal and regulatory parameters are being drafted and crafted at an EU level and our job is to adjust them and adapt them to our local needs . There is another important aspect of our strategy , which did not exist to this extent , in the past . It is the effective public and private collaboration and this is the purpose of my presence in this meeting today . It is to share with you our willingness and our readiness to collaborate with the industry and jointly build solutions , to listen to your needs and craft together solutions that best fit industry specific cyber-security requirements . We are not being generic , but rather focused on industries . Banking industry is one of them , fortunately one of the most advanced in cyber-security , by nature of their business . The Maritime industry is also , an industry where we would like to discuss potential collaboration options .
The key message that I want to pass on to you is our eagerness for collaboration with ecosystems , and your industry is one of the ecosystems where we can jointly build our expertise , help and work together while also engaging the private sector , academia and research institutions .
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