Cybersecurity

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.

• Introduce Good Samaritan laws for ethical hackers and encourage the use of bug bounties by the private sector

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.