A. Temelkov: A collective and coordinated approach is needed to develop enhanced resilience to cyber attacks

Cyber hygiene is key responsibility of each citizen and of each business or administrative organisation, firmly believes the Chair of State e-Government Agency.

A collective and coordinated approach is needed to develop enhanced resilience to cyber attacks and build efficient mechanisms for determent and response, and thereby ensure better protection to European citizens, businesses and institutions. This key message came from the speech which the S.E.G.A. Chair, Atanas Temelkov, delivered at the International Conference on Cybersecurity Challenges held in the framework of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council. The forum, organised jointly by S.E.G.A. and the Ministry of Information Technology, Transport and Communications, was attended by more than 150 European IT security experts.

In 2017, Internet users already accounted for 51 % of the world’s population and there were 8.4 billion internet-connected devices worldwide. This pace of growth means that cybercrime is likely to become the single largest threat in the world with a potential to inflict serious economic damage — various estimates point to more than USD 6 trillion in the next two years alone, Temelkov told attendees.

The S.E.G.A. Chair stressed that risks and threats in cyberspace are common to all Member States, meaning that there is a need for collective vision and enhanced cooperation among Member States and EU institutions in order to strengthen operational capacity in the area of cybersecurity at European level.

Temelkov also highlighted the importance of cyber hygiene education and awareness at both MS and EU level. ‘It is highly important for people to develop cyber hygiene habits. Despite the growing threats, awareness and knowledge in the area of cybersecurity is still insufficient as 50 % of European citizens are unaware of the cyber threats and nearly 70 % of all businesses lack basic knowledge of the cyber risk they are exposed to’, alerted Temelkov.

‘Cyber hygiene is key responsibility of each citizen and of each business or administrative organisation’, stressed the S.E.G.A. Chair to the attendees at the forum which was hosted by the National Palace of Culture in Sofia.

Full text of Atanas Temelkov’s speech