Lithuanian organisations are strengthening their cyber security competence. BAIP, UAB, one of the leading critical information technology infrastructure companies in the Baltic region, is inviting organisations to the first cyber security conference of such kind in the country “Cyber defence Lithuania 2013”.
“Even though the magnitude, dynamics and damage to organisations inflicted by cyber attacks has been rising over the past years, the public is still largely unaware of the actual importance of IT systems’ security. In addition, cyber security professionals lack methods, tools and practical definitions for proper security management and effective defence of their organisations”, says Gytis Umantas, CEO of BAIP, UAB.
European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has announced October 2013 to be the first fully-fledged European Cyber Security Month. In celebration of this occasion, cyber security advocacy, educational and good practice sharing events are happening all across Europe.
The purpose of “Cyber Defence Lithuania 2013”conference, taking place on the 25th October at the “Radisson Blu Vilnius” hotel, is to encourage public awareness of cyber security issues and assist IT security professionals in preparation to defend against cyber attacks. It is expected that think-tanks and informal meetings will contribute to the development of IT professionals’ from business, science and public sectors community that could strengthen cyber security on both organisational and national levels.
The conference will be attended by presenters from Poland, Hungary, East Africa and Lithuania that will review the trends of cyber security in Lithuania and abroad. They will introduce effective, prioritised guidelines for cyber security governance, based on defence experience of the NSA, US Cert, Department of State, DoD Cyber Crime Center and others (“Critical Security Controls”), and demonstrate technologies for risk management, log analysis and remote access monitoring, to mention a few. Cyber-attack simulation will be broadcasted from Brussels, showcasing 3 different types of attacks, both from the hacker side and from the security team member side. Ways to defend against such attacks will be explained. During the practice session participants will be taught to respond appropriately to cyber security incidents.
One of the guest speakers at the event is a member of the international NRD cyber security team, Norway Registers Development East Africa Ltd. security specialist and auditor – Sebastian Marondo. Mr Marondo has experience working in both private and public sectors as well as with various projects in the United Nations organisations.
“In August together with Mr Marondo we organised a very successful cyber security conference “Cyber Defence East Africa 2013”. BAIP was as a gold sponsor, our cyber security team specialists also contributed by sharing their experience with the attendees. Then we received many complaints that we do not do something like this in Lithuania. We had also received a similar feedback after our trainings for the national information systems’ security managers in February – people were saying that there is a huge deficit of such initiatives in Lithuania. With that in mind, we decided to organise “Cyber Defence Lithuania 2013”, says Dr Vilius Benetis, CEO of NRD CS and head of BAIP cyber security group.
As part of the conference, BAIP is also facilitating an informal, voluntary Cyber Security Experts’ Forum (KSEF) Meeting, organised by the Communications Regulatory Authority. According to the organisers, it has been decided to do both events under one roof in order to encourage public and private sector cooperation in creating a safer digital space in Lithuania. KSEF participants will share expert views on Cyber Security realities in the EU context.
Conference is organised by an international cyber security team (NRD Cyber Security Team), acting in Lithuania via BAIP. The team works with all CERTs in Lithuania, and since 2008, by the invitation of Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence, has been an active member in developing Lithuanian national cyber security strategy. At the moment, the team is assisting in the implementation of the Electronic Information Security Development 2011-2019 program. Together with an international Information Systems Audit and Control Association ISACA Tanzania Chapter, the team is developing a consultative Tanzanian Cyber Security Framework and plans to implement it in the public and private sectors. Team’s specialists are also authors and subject matter expert reviewers of international academic publications, such as “Transforming Cybersecurity: Using COBIT® 5“ (ISACA), “Responding to targeted Cyber attacks” (ISACA), COBIT adaptation in Lithuania.
It is expected that the conference will attract around a 100 Lithuanian IT professionals. For many of them the conference will be free of charge. This opportunity is provided by the sponsors of the event – international companies IBM, Lumension and Qualys.
About BAIP:
BAIP is the most experienced IT infrastructure services company in the Baltics, with its roots going back to the 1998 when the first IT services company in Lithuania – “Baltic Amadeus” has been established. After starting with hardware and software lifecycle management services, BAIP has based its business processes on ISO (9000, 14000, 20000) family standards and now provides critical information system design, development, maintenance, resilience and cyber security services for governments and corporations. At the moment, company serves more than 150 government institutions, banks and other major corporate clients. Company belongs to BAIP group.
About BAIP group:
BAIP group is a group of specialized IT companies working in the field of business climate improvement reforms, integrated national information system’ design, critical IT infrastructure’s resilience, national cyber security and cyber defence. The group manages: UAB BAIP, UAB “Acena”, UAB “Informatikos pasaulis”, “UAB NRD”, Norway Registers Development AS, Norway Registers East Africa Limited, UAB NRD CS. BAIP group operates and implements projects in the Central and Eastern Europe, East Africa and other regions.