Worldwide Cybersecurity Best Practices Part 1

 In this two-part series, we will take a look at how eight countries from across the world implemented cybersecurity initiatives in the past few years, including Ntirety’s global offices in Bulgaria, Canada, and the United States.  

 Australia  

In May 2021, the Critical Infrastructure Uplift Program (CI-UP) was presented by the Australian government to aid in identifying and repairing vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure. This program was set in place to help providers evaluate their current security program and implement recommended strategies to reduce risk.  

 This program is available to critical infrastructure businesses that are Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) partners. According to ACSC, this program was created to:  

• Deliver prioritized vulnerability and risk mitigation strategies  
• Assist partners to implement the recommended risk mitigation strategies  

 Brazil  

In Feb. 2020, Brazil introduced its first national cybersecurity strategy. The country that ranked 70th in the Global Cybersecurity Index, moved its way up to number 18 on the list in 2020. While the bones were set in place with the passing of the National Policy on Information Security in Dec. 2018, there were still more steps needed to create a strategy to secure the biggest economy in Latin America.  

 The National Cyber Security Strategy, E-Ciber, details a four-year plan (2020-2023) to improve the “security and resilience of critical infrastructure and national public services.”  

 Strategic Objectives include:  

1. Make Brazil more prosperous and reliable in the digital environment;  
2. Increase Brazil’s resilience to cyber threats; and  
3. Strengthen the Brazilian action in cybersecurity in the international scenario.  

Strategic Actions involve:  

1. Strengthen cyber governance actions 
2. Establish a centralized governance model at the national level  
3. Promote participatory, collaborative, reliable and secure environment, between the public sector, the private sector and society  
4. Raise the government’s level of protection  
5. Raise the level of protection of National Critical Infrastructures  
6. Improve the legal framework on cybersecurity  
7. Encourage the design of innovative cybersecurity solutions  
8. Expand Brazil’s international cooperation in Cybersecurity  
9. Expand the partnership, in cybersecurity, between the public sector, the private sector, academia and society  
10. Raising society’s maturity in cybersecurity   

  Bulgaria  

The strategy, Cyber Resilient Bulgaria 2020, was established to create a framework to ensure a safe cyber environment. The strategy was released in 2016 and the plans were carried through the year 2020 with the hopes of increasing growth in cybersecurity resources and leadership.  

 The strategy was broken into 3 phases:  

1. Between 2016-2017 the goal was to achieve the minimum required information and cybersecurity and capability for responding to cyber incidents and attacks at organizations and networks.  
2. When it came to cyber incidents, crises and systematic prevention activities, 2018-2019 was dedicated to bringing the work of individual systems to coordinated responses.  
3. 2020 achieved a level of maturity which would provide cyber resilience at the national level and effective interaction and integration at international level (An example being the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)).  

 “This strategy aims to provide better protection for citizens, businesses, governments and critical infrastructure,” Security Operations Analyst Teodora Mincheva said. 

 The cyberworld can be accessed from almost anywhere on earth; this means that as individuals we must all use caution and do everything that we can to make a safe cyber space for all. Stay tuned for the second part of Worldwide Cybersecurity Best Practices!