In November, CARNET launched a new project titled “Grow2CERT – Increasing the Maturity of the National CERT for Stronger Collaboration in the Cyber Security Community”. The project worth more than a million euros is co-financed by the European Union through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and will be implemented until the end of October 2021.
With this project, CARNET’s National CERT is investing in increasing its preparedness to respond to cyber threats and incidents, which are becoming more sophisticated, more pronounced and represent one of the five biggest global risks along with natural disasters and climate change, according to the World Economic Forum report.
To prevent an incident and speed up the process of stopping and resolving it, National CERT will continue to develop the PiXi platform for the exchange of information on computer security threats and incidents. It will also extend the use of the platform to key service operators and digital service providers to ensure their smooth operation, and thereby the security of services that are of particular importance for key social and economic activities in Croatia such as banking, financial market infrastructure, digital infrastructure and business services for government bodies.
In the first 11 months of this year, we processed 30% more incidents than in the entire previous year, and we expect that number to grow significantly in the coming years. Therefore, our goal is to increase the level of knowledge and competencies and expand cooperation with international bodies in order to successfully anticipate potential risks and reduce the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to cyber-attacks, but also further increase our users’ awareness of the importance of cybersecurity.
The project envisages the continuation of activities of the National CERT with the goal of raising awareness of the general public about cybersecurity through a digital campaign, social media posts and organization of quizzes, round tables and other events dedicated to cybersecurity during the European Cyber Security Month. It will particularly focus on “cyber hygiene”, i.e. maintaining a high level of security of internet users with the responsible use of modern information and communication technologies.