“The National Centre for Cyber Security was established under the Ministry of National Defence a little more than a year ago, and expert personnel have achieved a lot in terms of strengthening cyber security of Lithuanian state institutions over the time,” Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas says ahead of the inauguration ceremony.
Within its capacity, the National Centre for Cyber Security looks for solutions in the fields of state information resources and critical information infrastructure protection in cooperation with state authorities and organisations and other entities. The staff of the Centre are normally the first ones to detect attacks on state institutions and to inform about them, to manage a cyber incident, and to coordinate actions of different institutions.
According to Minister J.Olekas, shifts in the security situation underlined the need for cyber security. NATO Heads of States and Governments recognised cyberspace as one of the domains of defence, the same as land, maritime and air, and made a commitment to step up cyber security and resilience of information systems, and the ability to counter cyber-attacks on their own.
The event will also be attended by Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, Chairman of the Committee on National Security and Defence of the Lithuanian Parliament, Artūras Paulauskas, Minister of the Interior Tomas Žilinskas, Minister of Transport and Communications Rimantas Sinkevičius, Ambassadors of Estonia, Latvia, the United States and Poland, and other guests.
The Law on Cyber Security of the Republic of Lithuania, in force as of 1 January 2015, provided legal basis and enshrined the will to protect the cyberspace of Lithuania through combined efforts. The Service for Cyber Security and Telecommunications under the Ministry of National Defence was tasked with the functions of the National Centre for Cyber Security defined by the said law.
Lithuania takes cyber security seriously: this year the National Plan for of Cyber Incident Management organisational-technical requirements for cyber security, and other legislation regulating cyber protections obligatory to all public sector institutions have been endorsed this year.
