The Department of "National and Regional Security" in connection with the activities of the National Scientific Program "Security and Defense" organized the thematic seminar "State of capabilities to ensure cyber security for the needs of the state administration".

The head of the "National and Regional Security" department and coordinator of the National Scientific Program "Security and Defense" for UNWE Assoc. Prof. Dr. Noncho Dimitrov opened the event and emphasized: "Within this seminar we will present the results of the program under task 2.1.3. Research on the security of critical information systems for the needs of public administration'.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Noncho Dimitrov presented the National Scientific Program "Security and Defense" and pointed out that UNWE is a beneficiary of the Program, which is implemented in partnership with the Defense Institute "Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov", The University of Library Science and Information Technologies, the Military Academy "G. S. Rakovski", the Center for National Security and Defense Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Naval Academy "N. Y. Vaptsarov", the National Military University "Vasil Levski" and the Air Force Academy "G. Benkovski".

Mihail Ivanov, a doctoral student in the Department of "National and Regional Security" presented the results of a study on the topic "Scanning the National Cyberspace", which is an analysis of the vulnerabilities of the national electronic systems. He emphasized that in the course of the research, it was established that the national electronic systems suffer from numerous security gaps, which in turn means that the exploitation and theft of personal data of Bulgarian citizens is a high-probability event.

Dozens of critical breaches exist in the systems of various government institutions accessible on the Internet. There are hundreds of vulnerabilities that, when exploited together, could allow attackers to penetrate critical infrastructure systems and networks across the country.

The study also provides recommendations for mitigation and mitigation of risks, such as decommissioning outdated hardware, collecting critical data in a cyber response center, conducting regular audits of electronic systems, building and implementing structured vulnerability management processes and policies .

Dr. Elitsa Pavlova, Acting Director of the Directorate "Information Technologies" of UNWE presented task 1.1.4. Simulation modeling and scenarios for interaction of the systems, which UNWE implements jointly with the Military Academy "G. S. Rakovski".

The event continued with a fruitful discussion on the topic "State of Cyber ​​Security Capabilities for Public Administration", in which business representatives participated. Martin Ivanov, marketing specialist at A1 Bulgaria presented how the company takes care of cyber security and interacts with government structures. Georgi Kisiov, deputy manager of development activities of "Risk Electronic", shared the company's experience in the field of cyber threats and good practices from the country and Europe for dealing with them. Pavlin Kutinchev, co-owner of the INFINITI OOD organization dealing with internal security, focused on personal security and information leaks.

Part-time lecturer Ognyan Ognyanov from the Department of "National and Regional Security" actively participated in the discussion as well as d Ivan Gaidarski, manager and co-owner of "INFINITI" Ltd.