Inspector of the Hungarian Defence Forces Command Cyber Inspectorate (CI)
Nowadays, the protection of critical infrastructures is already of paramount importance and must be given even more emphasis in the future. Infrastructure is the basic structure of our society, enabling production and supply, so it includes, for example, law enforcement forces such as the police, but also those working in the military and the health care system.
Critical infrastructure protection is also a priority for the European Union and NATO. Hungary is making huge steps to keep up with these trends as well.
We are currently in a period of sectoral regulation, and future tasks include the designation of critical infrastructure, the adoption of specific protection measures, and the development of control procedures.
One of our main tasks is to strengthen the physical protection of critical information infrastructure such as server rooms, control centres - considering, these are completely vulnerable in the natural physical sense, the importance of protection is not in the public consciousness, but in the duplication of vital elements, increasing of human resources and security investments.
In recent years, the number of cyber-attacks affecting the critical infrastructures via their essential ICT elements and sub-systems. That are large businesses of individual countries has multiplied worldwide. Industrial power supply, traffic control and other vital systems, as well as business and entertainment services, which have hitherto been believed to be certain, are found to be vulnerable to cyber attacks. In recent years, not only hacker attacks but also suspected state-sponsored cyber espionage campaigns have been taking place through computer systems.
As a result, the governments of the world's leading countries, as well as Hungary's, have understood that if they do not act more effectively to ensure the security of cyberspace, the operation of critical infrastructure will be jeopardized in the future. This poses a particular threat to privacy and the security of national advocacy.
Therefore, scientific research infrastructures such as universities, laboratories, or scientific conferences such as International Conference on Central European Critical Infrastructure Protection are crucial and essential to consider the prosperity of our life in the 21st century.