At times of massive expansion of smart technology into everyday life, it is necessary to look not only at the benefits, but also at the risks that come along. Is Slovak eGoverment ready for possible hacker attacks?

Cyber Security Index

The Global Cyber Security Index (GCI) is a scale of national data protection not only for personal data, but also for the security of state data. The index is annually prepared by the UN International Telecommunication Union. With this scale, ordinary people can see whether security development is growing along with the development of a smart state. Compared to 2017, Slovakia jumped 36 places and ranked in 45th position according to the Global Cyber Security Index pre rok 2018. For comparison, Austria placed itself in 28th position, Hungary in 31, Czech Republic in the 71st, Poland in 29th and Ukraine in 54th position.

The assessment elaborated by the Estonian think tank eGovernance Academy in 2018 placed Slovakia in the ninth place in National Cyber Security Index (NCSI).

This scale, however, measures solely countries' readiness for serious cyber threats.

Thus, Slovakia has managed to achieve a significant improvement in security development as well as in legislative framework. In line with the NIS Directive, Slovakia has prepared legislative changes in the form of the Cyber Security Act that came into force in April 2018.

A real-world textbook example

Let's go back to Ukraine, where in mid-May 2019 Europol managed to destroy the international cyber criminal network. The members of this network were mostly Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine, Bulgaria, Georgia and Moldova, who have seized about $ 100 million from over 41,000 victims through their malware.

GozNym's malware acquired online banking login data on infected computers, which were subsequently used to access the accounts and transfer money to criminals’ accounts. The money obtained was then washed in other banks.

The operation is the result of a successful cooperation between the EU Member States' police (Bulgaria, Germany) and the police of Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and the United States. It is a textbook example of how international cooperation can help defuse cyber crime.

GozNym illustrates how the concept of "cyber crime as a service" works. They are no longer lonely hackers. Criminals have used a variety of services, such as bullet-proof web hosts, a money transfer network, crypters, spammers, coders, managers, and technical support.

Thus, new technologies come hand in hand with new opportunities in both negative and positive sense. They simplify life, increase comfort, but also enable to take an advantage of others. Therefore it is extremely important to think of the right defense against increasingly sophisticated criminals when building the data state during the digital transformation process. Considering the importance of the topic, separate block at the ITAPA Spring Conference will be devoted to Cyber Security in Slovakia.