The Government approves a plan of 1,157 million to reinforce cybersecurity | Spain

The Council of Ministers on Tuesday has approved a cybersecurity plan endowed with 1,157 million euros to strengthen resilience against cyber attacks. This amount is part of the Industrial and Technological Plan for Security and Defense, presented on April 24 by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who plans to increase Spanish military spending by 10,471 millionto reach 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) this year, four earlier than expected.

In the press conference after the cabinet meeting, the Minister for Digital and Public Function Transformation, Óscar López, stressed that in the last decade cyber attacks suffered in Spain have multiplied 300%. Only last year there were more than 100,000 and every three days there was one classified as serious, he added. Faced with this, the Plan approved by the Government assumes, according to its words, the “greatest investment effort that Spain has made in cybersecurity” and will allow it to make a “colossal jump” in this field.

Its approval occurs eight days after, on April 28, a blackout left without electricity supply for several hours to Spain and Portugal. The government maintains all open lines of research and has not yet ruled out that collapse was a consequence of a cyber attack, As the minister recalled, although Red Electrica has not found any trace of it so far.

22% of the total budget (255 million) will be executed by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function, through the Secretary of State for Digital Administration, Red.es and the Secretariat of State of Telecommunications, which will coordinate the set of the Plan; 1.2% (14 million) by the Department of National Security (DSN), attached to the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes; 16.34% (189 million) by the Ministry of Interior; and 60.4% (700 million) by the Ministry of Defense, through the National Intelligence Center-National Cryptological Center (CNI-CCN), the Center for Information and Communications Systems and Technologies (CESIC) and the Joint Command of Cyberspace (MCCE).

The objective of this set of measures, which complement the National Cybersecurity Plan approved in 2022, is to improve cybersecurity and cyber -defense capabilities in a broad spectrum, which goes from “the prevention, detection and protection to the response and recovery”, with “the ultimate goal of protecting information and services, especially critical infrastructures,” according to the Government.

Although many of the 40 projects included in the Plan are classified as secrets, López has highlighted the strengthening of the Cybersecurity Operations Center (COC) aimed at municipalities with less than 50,000 inhabitants; the development of the Ciberdefensa Operations Center; lto improve the national alert and monitoring platform of cybercidents and the reinforcement of the Iris network, which are used by Spanish scientists and researchers. According to the official note, “Cyberresiliencia of the Transversal Services of the Digital Administration and the platforms for automated audits on the Internet exposed services of public administrations and the use of advanced artificial intelligence techniques for the detection of cyberattacks and improving the coordination of the response of the public and private cybersecurity centers”, for which it will be sought to seek cooperation with cooperation with cooperation with cooperation ”will be improved. Universities in the field of cybersecurity research.

López has stressed that Spain « does not start from zero » and that, according to the International Telecommunications Union (UIT), it is already « one of the most advanced countries » in cybersecurity, above the European average. Despite this, he has warned that One in five crimes is already committed through the Internet and 70% aim at administrations, entities or companies, while 30% are directed against private citizens.

Another of the objectives of the Plan, according to the Minister, is to enhance the Spanish cybersecurity industry, whose top managers received Pedro Sánchez, who on Wednesday will explain in the Plenary of the Congress the supplementary package of more than 10,000 million spending in defense and security with which Spain aspires to fulfill its commitment to NATO. The Council of Ministers also approved on Tuesday a game of three million euros for the United Nations Artificial Intelligence Office, which will have a division in Valencia.