Cybersecurity Policy

security is at the forefront to prevent catastrophic hacks which could severely impact public services such as hospitals among others.

Government

  • Invest in increasing government cybersecurity infrastructure capabilities to ensure minimum disruption to operations in the event of an attack.
  • Invest in the Cyber-Crime Unit capabilities to investigate crimes and to cooperate with government departments on how to prevent them from recurring.
    • Recruit ethical hackers to ensure the unit can help in;
      • Identifying vulnerabilities,
      • Anticipating attacks;
      • Investigating attacks;
    • Foster cooperation with the Armed Forces of Malta.
    • Foster a closer cooperation with the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, and the European Cybercrime Centre.

Public Education

  • Introduce basic courses on practices ensuring cyber security in the workplace & home. The course should address the basic principles of navigating the digital space to ensure data integrity.
    • Make the classes mandatory for the public sector.
    • Encourage the private sector to utilise the course. 
    • Introduce certification valid for 6 years.
      • Persons who have achieved a higher qualification in cyber security are exempted from doing the course for 12 years after completing their course.
    • A higher level course would be introduced voluntarily, however mandatory for individuals responsible for sensitive data. 
  • Introduce a Bsc & Msc in Cybersecurity at the University of Malta.
  • Ensure cyber security education at the primary & secondary levels is reviewed annually.
    • The educational material should be adapted to the student’s age.
    • The course should be delivered in a hands-on manner, and address the tools most often used by the students, and adult population. Ensure the students are given practical examples & training experience. For example;
      • Security & privacy tools of emails, social media platforms, and other services.
      • Identifying scams and phishing emails/text messages.