The fourth meeting of the National Cybersecurity Forum was held on 8 October

During the meeting, the agreements reached at the last National Cybersecurity Council held on 9 July were reported, including the approval of the first report drawn up by the Forum and entitled "National Cybersecurity Forum: Engine of public-private collaboration", which includes the following projects:

  • A report on cybersecurity culture in Spain.
  • A report on Spanish Cybersecurity Industry and Research.
  • A National Certification Scheme for Cybersecurity Officers.

On the other hand, during the meeting, new lines of work were presented and approved, focusing on actions aimed at increasing citizens' awareness of cybersecurity, as well as promoting their co-responsibility; the incorporation of cybersecurity in the good corporate governance of companies; the internationalisation of the industry, R&D&I and talent; the development of a strategic R&D&I agenda; analysing existing training and capacity building proposals and the gaps regarding the Scheme and Competences, in order to promote higher quality Training and Capacity Building; studying the national market in the Cybersecurity sector in order to know and analyse current capacities in the face of generic cyber defence needs and improving public-private collaboration in the regulatory field of cybersecurity.

The objectives, tasks and expected results of the new Regulatory Working Group have also been approved, which joins the four existing ones: the cybersecurity culture group, the Industry and R&D&I support group, the cybersecurity education, training and talent group, and the cyber defence industry analysis and promotion group.

In addition, it was reported that on 6 October, the Director of the National Security Department and President of the Forum, accompanied by the Vice-Presidencies of the National Cryptologic Centre and the National Institute of Cybersecurity, received the SIC 2021 prize, awarded by the magazine of the same name with the aim of publicly recognising the initiative of the National Cybersecurity Forum.

Photo: award ceremony of the SIC 2021 Prize to the National Cybersecurity Forum.

Finally, the candidacy of Mr. Miguel Angel Amutio, Director of the Cybersecurity Planning and Coordination Division of the General Secretariat for Digital Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, for the vice-presidency of the Board of Directors of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre to be based in Bucharest (Romania) was reported.

Background

The National Cybersecurity Strategy approved by the National Security Council in April 2019, points to public-private collaboration as a key element and encourages the materialisation of this collaboration through the National Cybersecurity Forum, a place to integrate representatives of civil society, independent experts, the private sector, academia, associations, non-profit organisations, among others, in order to enhance and create public-private synergies.

The composition of the Forum was determined with the aim of bringing together the greatest possible representation of public and private organisations and society in the field of cybersecurity. Under the chairmanship of the Department of Homeland Security and the vice-presidencies of the National Cybersecurity Institute and the National Cryptologic Centre, the Forum is made up of 15 organisations representing civil society and the private sector, including business organisations, think tanks, universities, specialised media, among others, as well as bodies with competence in cybersecurity.

The creation of the Forum was approved by the National Security Council on 21 February 2020, as a working group of the National Cybersecurity Council. It was established on 22 July 2020 and held its third meeting on 3 June 2020.


 

ANNEX: COMPOSITION

Presidency

  1. Department of Homeland Security.

Vice-Presidencies

  1. Vice-Presidency National Cybersecurity Institute.
  2. Vice-Presidency of the National Cryptologic Centre.

REPRESENTATIVES

  1. Representation of large corporations: CEOE.
  2. SME representation: CEPYME.
  3. Representation of the self-employed: ATA.
  4. User representation: AUTELSI.
  5. Professional representative: ISACA.
  6. Foundation representative: Fundación Empresa Seguridad y Sociedad (ESYS).
  7. Representative of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce.
  8. Representatives of associations linked to cybersecurity: ISMS Forum.
  9. Media representatives: Editorial Borrmart.
  10. Media representatives: CODA Editions.
  11. THINKTANKS Representation: Real Instituto Elcano.
  12. Representation of THINKTANKS: Thiber.
  13. University representative: Sectorial Commission for Information and Communication Technologies of the Crue Universidades Españolas.
  14. Representative of universities: Representative of the National Network of Excellence in Cybersecurity Research (RENIC).
  15. CSIRTs representative: National Coordinator of the CSIRT.es Network.
  16. Cross-sectoral representative of the Essential Services Operators' Cybersecurity Coordination Table.

OTHER REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ADMINISTRATION:

  1. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. Ambassador-at-Large for Hybrid Threats and Cybersecurity.
  2. Ministry of Defence. Joint Cyberspace Command.
  3. Ministry of Home Affairs. State Secretariat for Security. Cybersecurity Coordination Office.
  4. Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation
    1. Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure.
    2. Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence. General Secretariat for Digital Administration.