INFORMATION SECURITY PROJECT - THE LARGEST ICT PROJECT IN SRPSKA

BANJA LUKA, JULY 23 /SRNA/ - The Republika Srpska Government has conducted a detailed analysis of the state of information security in public administration and critical infrastructures over the past year, developed guidelines for information security development, and designed a new national protection system which, in terms of scope, resources, and complexity, represents the largest ICT project in Srpska, according to the Information and Communications Technology Agency of Srpska.

"The project is self-sustainable and aims to fully protect Republika Srpska's cyber space," the Agency emphasized. In line with the planned timeline, the Agency highlighted that the project implementation is expected to begin by the end of August. "The implementation is planned in two parallel phases. It enables complete integration of state authorities, the academic sector, and the private sector in incident management. The protection functions in relation to users include the protection of three user groups: public administration and critical infrastructures, child protection, and the protection of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises," says a press release. The Agency emphasized that the system will protect public administration and critical infrastructures encompassing 780 institutions at the republic level, local self-government units, the judiciary, the energy and mining sectors, health and social protection, financial systems, food and water supply, transportation, communications and information technologies, science and education, and the sector of national monuments and values. "The system also includes a 'safe internet' function for children and provides protection for small and medium-sized enterprises," the Agency said. From a technical standpoint /software and hardware solutions/, the system comprises 15 security hubs and a Data Center and is designed to defend against the most complex cyber threats, including state-sponsored attacks. The Agency says that from an organizational perspective, the system will support operations of the future republic-level CERT /Computer Emergency Response Team/, sectoral CERT bodies, and regional /mezoregional/ CSIRT /Computer Security Incident Response Team/ bodies. "According to the Government's guidelines for managing supply chain crises and politically motivated non-UN sanctions, the partner selected is ELINC, a company from the 'China Electronic Corporation' group, a specialized manufacturer of equipment in the field of national information security systems," the press release said. The press release also noted that the system has been presented to the expert public /institutions, corporate sector, and ICT sector/ on several occasions: May 10, May 15, and June 25.