Global companies have begun to quantify risks arising from cyber attacks (experts)

A culture of online security is very important, it can help us protect ourselves from cyber attacks, a context in which six out of ten global companies maintain to have begun to quantify these risks. This is the conclusion of the debates organized, on Thursday, within one of the panels of the event "Lessons learned from cyber security experts. Perspectives from Romania and the United States of America". According to a study presented by Roxana Prisacaru, Forensic Technology Leader of PwC Romania, 55% of executives plan to increase budgets for cyber security, while almost two thirds (64%) say they expect the revenues of their organizations to decrease. The data centralized by the consulting company show that 60% of those surveyed have begun the process of quantifying cyber security risks or have begun implementing large-scale solutions to prevent this phenomenon. On the same topic of cyber security, but from the point of view of education in this field, AGERPRES National News Agency Managing Director Claudia Nicolae appreciated that it is very important to develop a culture of security in the online environment. "We need to link cyber security to the big picture. It means to firstly develop a culture of security and to understand that, by being safe, we can protect not only ourselves but also our neighbors, our communities and our country. By educating with this basic message, we can connect personal cyber security to national security and collective security. With 65 percent of Generation Z wanting to create something that will change the world, we present ourselves as a generation that has an inventive spirit. In the age of social networks, more than ever, we use these platforms to understand and empathize with communities around the world," Claudia Nicolae affirmed. In this context, AGERPRES National News Agency's contribution to the promotion of public awareness campaigns in respect to the dangers in the IT space was mentioned. "In 2016, AGERPRES launched the '#CyberFiles' section, which contains news dedicated to the strategic issues of cyberspace and security. In addition to the dedicated journalistic materials, AGERPRES organized, together with the Romanian National Cyber Security and Incident Response Team, cyber security courses for journalists, both for those in AGERPRES and for all those in the national and local media. The public awareness campaigns in respect to these dangers are extremely important and have started to grow including in Romania, due to, on the one hand, the specialist cyber security companies, and, on the other hand, the institutions with competencies in this sector, such as CERT-RO [the Romanian Center for Cyber Security Incident Response]," Claudia Nicolae pointed out. Moreover, for a better understanding of the dangers of online, through the editorial project "#CyberFiles", some of the most impactful cyber-attacks worldwide have been brought to the public's attention, attacks that had repercussions on some small and medium-sized companies, governments or national interest institutions, as well as on household users.. In addition, the managing director of AGERPRES brought to mind the partnership through which the Romanian National News Agency supports the "Romanian Cyber Security Challenge" competition, which had its first edition last autumn and which will have a new stage in 2021, as well. The Romanian Cyber Security Challenge - RoCSC competition was organized, in 2020, by the National Cyberint Center within the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Romanian Center for Cyber Security Incident Response - CERT-RO and the National Association for Information Systems Security - ANSSI, alongside partners such as Orange Romania, Bit Sentinel, CertSIGN, Cisco and KPMG. #RoCSC20, a Capture The Flag (CTF) type of competition, replaced the final stage of the European Cyber Security Challenge 2020 (ECSC), postponed due to the pandemic, which was to take place on November 24, 2020, in Vienna. In his turn, Alexandru Bertea, cyber security expert within the Association for the Prevention and Combating of Fraud (APCF), discussed the MO - modus operandi of hackers in the virtual environment. "We need to learn together how to look out for cyber attacks. Social Engineering attacks are occurring, it's a real fact. As we've seen in recent events, there has been a lot of damage done by attackers through the monetisation of the attacks. Sometimes, the attacks are destructive and also benefit from a helping hand from the systems we operate, which are too exposed. The attackers make sure that their actions can be monetized. As for the tools used, they have generated intense activity. in the virtual space in the last 5-6 years, but especially in the last two years. In order to prevent such actions, we must first make sure that we find a way to understand the types of MO," said Bertea. The Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance (ARASEC) organized on Thursday, online, the conference "Lessons learned from cyber security experts. Perspectives from Romania and the United States of America", where they talked about good practices, but also about case studies relevant to the field of cyber security, aimed at increasing the level of the users' knowledge. The event was supported by the United States Embassy in Romania and the Romanian Center for Cyber Security Incident Response (CERT-RO). AGERPRES National News Agency was the media partner of the conference.AGERPRES(RO - author: Daniel Badea, editor: Andreea Marinescu; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)