Assessing the State of Cybersecurity in Slovakia

While the past year has seen Slovakia take several strides in the right direction in the sphere of cybersecurity, including passing appropriate legislation, concerted efforts still need to be made both in terms of developing cybersecurity readiness and building a cyber-literate workforce. The recent revelation of an attempted cyber-attack on the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, purportedly originating from abroad, is one of several examples illustrating the need to significantly increase investment in cybersecurity capacities and prevention measures in order to curb the number of cyber-attacks in the region.

The GLOBSEC Policy Institute, in association with the Slovak Deputy Prime Minister’s Office for Investments and Informatization, will be organising a round-table on the state of cybersecurity in Slovakia. Held as part of the GLOBSEC Chateau Bela Forum 2018, the working round-table will initiate a dialogue between representatives of the government, private sector, technical community, and civil society with the aim of critically assessing the sphere of cybersecurity in Slovakia. The event will take place at the GLOBSEC premises in Bratislava on the 7th of December and moderated by head of the cybersecurity programme at the GLOBSEC Policy Institute, Anushka Kaushik.

 The working round-table will be in split into two parts:

• During the first half of the discussion, the current mechanisms to protect the state against cyber threats and the level of investment in the field in Slovakia will be critically assessed. We’ll also invite deliberation on the degree of awareness that cybersecurity, as both a responsibility of the state and the individual user, has in the country and the CEE region.
• The second half of the round-table will be dedicated to ascertaining the cyber hygiene of the private sector in Slovakia and highlighting the key challenges that the sector and in particular, Small and Medium Enterprises, face.