I had a data lock / Day

Hello dad? It’s me, Luke. I’m calling from a friend’s phone. I’m in trouble and I need to pay back my losses urgently. Can you transfer money to this bank account immediately? – what would you do if you received a call with such a request in your child’s voice? We all like to think of ourselves as conscious and rational beings who are not so easy to get on the hook. Stories about someone falling for fraudsters’ tricks seem distant and unattributable to themselves, because – “I wouldn’t do that” or “I’m too unimportant to be interesting to schemers”. However, the overall picture of the digital world shows that everyone’s data is interesting enough and – most likely, they would.

This year, Latvia has received thirteen times more cyber attacks on the public sector than last year, and the year is not over yet. In recent years, in general, cyber attacks have been intense: in 2022, in connection with the war started by Russia in Ukraine, Latvia was in second place in the European Union (EU) and in fourth place in the world in terms of the number of attacks. It is unlikely that the reader will have felt the change in cyber attack statistics between now and 2023. This shows how effectively the national cyber defense system and the responsible authorities are working. However, as any team coach will know, a team is only as strong as its individual members. In a globally and digitally united world, where most of the daily activities are accompanied by technological tools, cyber security is not the responsibility of institutions or individual industries, but lies in the hands of everyone.

In the run-up to Christmas, who has been more diligent or better-behaved, while in the month of national holidays, the question could be asked: How have I strengthened the security of my country this year? Am I ready for technical development and am I able to successfully recognize the “hooks” that are posted?

TOGETHER – SAFER

In September, the National Cyber ​​Security Law entered into force in Latvia. At the same time as the law, the National Cyber ​​Security Center, which is managed by the Ministry of Defense and Cert.lv (cyber incident prevention institution). Such changes are taking place when Latvia implements the updated Network and Information Systems Security Directive of the European Union, or NIS2. The main objective of this directive is to achieve a uniformly high level of cyber security throughout Europe and to further increase it. NIS was established in 2016 and was the first legal framework for international cooperation and common development of cyber security. Taking into account the very rapid change of digital technologies, the directive was supplemented and NIS2 entered into force in 2023. It is expected that the wider scope of the directive and modernized requirements in cyber security will achieve greater public and private sector resilience and strengthen common European security. The aim of achieving an equally good common cyber security across the European Union is an important part of this directive. Many decisions taken by the EU are characterized by relatively high autonomy and freedom of interpretation of the member states. Uniform, high requirements in security matters indicate that we are aware that security risks and the protected area are common in Europe. But the main driving forces for achieving the goal of the directive are the readiness of the member states and the compliance of the responsible institutions, strategic cooperation and information exchange between the member states, as well as healthy “safety manners” in all sectors, especially in the important infrastructure, according to the European Commission.