In cooperation with the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications and NALED, the National CERT carried out in April 2024 three trainings for the representatives of local self-government units. The sessions took place in Zrenjanin, Kragujevac and Leskovac and were attended by 49 trainees.

As all Internet users and ICT system operators are exposed to various cyber attacks on a daily basis, a new cycle of trainings for IT administrators and city and municipality managers was carried out, with the focus on raising awareness about cyber security issues.

Many local self-government units face problems of lack of IT experts, insufficient funding, lack of investment in cybersecurity and in the training of personnel. The National CERT representative said that, due to all of the above mentioned, it is necessary to raise more awareness in the area of cyber security. The aim of these trainings is to inform local self-government employees about current cyber threats, teach them how to identify and prevent current cyber attacks, thus improving their skills and upgrading the level of cyber security.

During the training, the attendees had an opportunity to get acquainted with the provisions of the Law on Information Security, the work and competences of the National CERT, current cyber threats and how to recognize and prevent them, as well as the issues of risk management in cybersecurity, including advanced means of defense. The National CERT representative invited local self-government officials to report incidents to the National CERT.

Also, based on personal experience during the performance of inspection supervision, representatives of the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications pointed to the problem of inadequate application of the measures prescribed by the Act on ICT systems security adopted by every operator, which reduces the cyber resilience of local self-government units.

The National CERT and the Ministry are ready to continue with their joint efforts and work in the area of cybersecurity in the future, since the training attendees expressed strong interest in further cooperation.