A Cyber Coalition has been established to support cooperation between government and economic actors, creating an open professional forum for understanding the main cybersecurity challenges and developing responses to them, Marcell Biró, President of the Supervisory Authority for Regulated Activities (SZTFH) announced at a conference held in Budapest on Wednesday.
Biró emphasised the need to do everything possible to prevent cyberattacks as the range of threats is expanding. He added that there are two types of companies: those that have already experienced cyberattacks and those that will be attacked. He pointed out that digitisation has accelerated, the new industrial revolution is underway, and explosive changes are disrupting perceptions of manufacturing, trade, and services. According to research, 63 per cent of Hungarian companies have a website, and every fifth company enables online ordering. 23 per cent of their revenue comes from e-commerce, which is considered good compared to international standards.
Hungary is also at the forefront of employing IT professionals within the European Union,
with over 30 per cent of companies employing IT specialists. He emphasised that security provides a socio-economic competitive advantage, and the role of cybersecurity has become more valuable.
According to a European Union report, ransomware and attacks on the supply chain will remain significant cyber threats this year. The percentage of companies paying ransoms was 41 per cent last year, showing a decreasing trend. Hungarian companies paid 250 million forints to scammers, and the cost of recovery after a cyberattack exceeded 500 million forints according to their research.
Biró noted that SZTFH has a role in guaranteeing the security of digital tools and services. Parliament has passed the cybersecurity certification and supervision law based on the proposal of the Supervisory Authority for Regulated Activities. The law establishes a national cybersecurity certification framework and sets out the basic rules for cybersecurity certification of information and communication products. The goal is to create conditions for consumers to consider the cybersecurity level of products when making a purchase, he said. Cybersecurity is a common interest and shared responsibility, he reiterated.
Marcell Biró stated that due to the complex task of shaping cybersecurity awareness, consciousness, and knowledge sharing,
state organisations must take on an initiating and directing role,
collaborating with market actors. They must act together in order to fight cybercrime and offer solutions to consumers and businesses that enable them to protect themselves from dangers.
The agreement establishing the public-private Cyber Coalition was signed at the Wednesday conference by SZTFH, the Digital Hungary Agency (DMÜ) on the part of the Hungarian state, while on the part of the ICT sector the signatories were Vodafone, 4iG Plc. and Yettel Hungary.
