Belarus strengthens its cyber security

The President of Belarus has set the task of ensuring the security of important facilities in case they are subjected to cyber attacks. However, the country does not need to set up any new centres to deal with the matter. The Head of State gave the corresponding instruction at a meeting on cybersecurity.

“Cyber attacks are on the rise around the world (it may not be so typical for us, but still there are facts),” stressed Aleksandr Lukashenko. He drew attention to the fact that strategically important facilities, government agencies, enterprises and the banking system are subject to cyber attacks in the first place.

“That means that they target the vital infrastructure of any state, including ours. This is an element of hybrid warfare, a very dangerous one. The purpose is to cause the maximum damage to the economy and destabilise society. It is true not only about Belarus, but about any country chosen for an attack,” the President said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that instructions had been made to submit proposals on maximum counteraction to cyberattacks on the facilities of Belarus. The Operations and Analysis Centre was to engage experts and prepare the relevant proposals.
“I want to warn you about the development of any additional centres and structures. First you have to offer me the ways to ensure security of our state with the help of what we already have. We do not have extra money to go around and control each other. Let us proceed from the fact that we have defined the goals, that we know what cyber warfare is, and what cybersecurity is. All this we have spelled out in our National Security Concept. Next, we need to understand and already see what the cyber attack will be aimed at. We should probably protect these facilities on site. We will proceed from this,” noted the Head of State.  The meeting was attended by Head of the Operations and Analysis Centre under the Belarus President Andrei Pavlyuchenko, Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, Head of the Belarus President Administration Igor Sergeyenko, and State Secretary of the Security Council Aleksandr Volfovich. The Head of State added that any opinion or proposal of those present at the meeting regarding the subject of cyber security had to be well thought and justified.
As world practice shows, the damage from cyber attacks can amount to billions of dollars. Suffice it to recall one of the largest cyberattacks in the summer of 2017, when a computer virus damaged large corporate networks of companies and government agencies in Europe, the USA, Australia, Russia, Ukraine, India, and China. The damage done exceeded $10 billion. Commenting on the results of the meeting, Head of the Operations and Analysis Centre Andrei Pavlyuchenko noted that not a single country has finally coped with cybercrime, 

“It is like the eternal struggle of shell and armour. There is no limit to perfection. No country right now can say that it has reached certain heights or the final result. This is an ongoing process. The more advanced the infrastructure, information and communication technology becomes, the more sophisticated the attempts by entire cyber groups, cyber criminals to hack, steal data, blackmail or paralyze certain systems become.”

Belarus has its own developments to build a national system of cybersecurity, but it also uses the best practices of other countries. At the same time, the main point, however, the President focused on it, is to build a large-scale national system for ensuring cybersecurity. According to the Head of the Operations and Analysis Centre, the task is to elaborate the corresponding document in detail in order to make it systematic and large-scale, covering different sectors and meeting modern challenges and threats. The Operations and Analysis Centre will have its skill sets centre and qualified specialists to carry out the task. Andrei Pavlyuchenko explained, “The essence of the document is to implement a systematic approach to cybersecurity issues in Belarus... A single approach for everyone is that the infrastructure must be protected.”

Belarus pays great attention to security issues in cyberspace, including in the context of countering terrorist threats, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes. The introduction of information and communication technologies in all spheres of life indicates that the expansion of international ‘digital’ co-operation is necessary not only in the context of the fight against terrorism, but also in various areas of the international agenda.
In March 2019, the Doctrine of Information Security of the Republic of Belarus was approved, which proclaimed information sovereignty, respect for the digital sovereignty of other countries and the pursuit of a peaceful foreign information policy.
Belarus is ready to develop co-operation and strengthen ties in the field of international information security with all countries of the world and stands for the development of rules for responsible behaviour in the virtual space in order to reduce confrontation and restore trust.

Photo by BELTA