Romania to introduce phone number for reporting cybersecurity incidents

Beginning this May, Romania will have a phone number where individuals, companies and public institutions can report cybersecurity incidents, communications minister Alexandru Petrescu said.

The number, 1911, will be available starting May 2. Those calling it will also receive primary assistance and advice on diagnosing and solving the issue. The number will be launched by the National Center for Response to Cybersecurity Incidents CERT-RO. It is currently in the trial phase.

Cybersecurity attacks cause yearly damage of EUR 400 billion to the global economy, the minister said. The impact of cyber-crime grew five times from 2013 and the phenomenon is considered a challenge for the domestic security of EU. Furthermore, in Europe, over 50% of the citizens view themselves as uninformed of cybersecurity threats.

Petrescu also warned about the still poor education in the area of cybersecurity.

“In Romania, the digital education in the area of cybersecurity continues to be poor. Most of the alerts processed by CERT-RO, some 87.6%, are related to vulnerable IT systems, compromised or infected with various malware versions, a situation also influenced by the low level of individual digital abilities,” the minister said, quoted by News.ro.

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