Telecom Minister: Cyber attacks increasing in number, could affect essential services

Romania is in the process of consolidating its resources in order to prevent, detect and manage cyber attacks, as their number is rapidly growing and could affect vital services for society, the Romanian Minister for Communications and Information Society Delia Popescu said during Digitization-The Future of Europe conference, organized by the the Ministry of Communications and Information Society, Agerpres news reads.

2016-08-29 13:09:49

"The number of cyber attacks is rapidly growing and could affect essential services such as water or electricity supply, medical care and mobile telephony services. Therefore, Romania is focusing more and more on strengthening its capacity and resources to prevent, detect and manage cyber attacks," the minister pointed out.

She stressed that, in this context, Romania sees the strengthening of its means to fight cyber crime, cyber attacks, malware incidents and abuses as a priority.

"Fighting cyber security threats and cyber attacks, regardless of their nature becomes vital, especially in the context of current unprecedented terror threats. State and non-state actors are able to use cyber attacks in their military operations. NATO and its allies rely on strong cyber defence in or to deliver on its basic tasks of collective defence, of crisis management and security through cooperation," the minister explained.

Moreover, the official believes that the European Union needs to take urgent and concrete measures to prevent the digital gaps, isolation and depopulation of rural remote areas. "This will greatly contribute to rural development and expansion of modern agriculture, where connectivity is essential," Delia Popescu added.