Africa-Press – Cape verde. Technicians from the public and private sectors are meeting in the city of Praia in the first edition of the international cybersecurity exercise on the energy sector, to test the country’s response capacity in situations of information attacks.
Speaking to the press, the general director of Telecommunications and Digital Economy, João da Luz, said that the initiative is promoted by the Ministry of Digital Economy, Operational Center for the Information Society (NOSI), in partnership with the National Cybersecurity Center (CNCS) of Portugal, and aims to test international readiness and response capacity to large-scale cyber incidents, which could affect the energy sector.
“When we talk about computer incidents, we immediately think about the internet, computers, services and, sometimes, we forget that without energy there is none of this”, pointed out the person in charge, who highlighted that the energy sector is “strategic and relevant” to level of cybersecurity.
Taking into account that nowadays “everything passes through the Internet” and in digital format and is susceptible to cyber attacks, João da Luz pointed out that the meeting will also serve to test and evaluate the effectiveness of transnational cooperation, internal coordination between authorities and companies in the energy sector, thus strengthening resilience against cyber incidents.
As explained by the same source, from the Portuguese Transformation and Security Center the technicians “will attack” Cape Verdean entities via email, all in a closed network and in a simulacrum environment, without endangering the national system, and test the response capacity in terms of behavior, communication, and articulation in the event of incidents, in order to minimize the impact and restore services in a timely manner.
“20 technicians from 11 entities linked to the public and private sector are participating, we are keen that the private sector is also present because Cape Verde is making qualitative leaps in terms of renewable energy”, pointed out the general director of Telecommunications and Digital Economy, who added that the exercise also includes the participation of regulatory entities.
However, he considered that regulatory entities also have a “fundamental role”, especially in raising awareness of the issue of cybersecurity, not only to ensure that things work well, but also that consumers and companies are protected.
“We always think that we are prepared for cyberattacks, this is not exclusive to Cape Verde, but an issue for the whole world. Being prepared means having exercises like the one we are doing, which are high-level exercises, based on almost real simulations”, he pointed out.
The exercise takes place simultaneously in Cape Verde, Mozambique and Portugal.
Committed to promoting national cybersecurity, the Government is developing capabilities to face cyberattacks and ensure cooperation between the various actors in the sector and in line with current legislation.
New cybersecurity initiatives will be launched, including the creation of a National Cybersecurity Center, among other actions.
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