Military Academy General Mihajlo Apostolski, Skopje, host of another NATO School in the field of cyber defense and security

11/10/2014 - 14:35

In the period from 08.12.2014 to 12.12.2014, the Military Academy General "Mihajlo Apostolski- Skopje" in cooperation with the NATO Centre of Excellence-Defense against Terrorism, NATO COE-DAT from Ankara, Turkey, this year, again, will be host of NATO advanced school – course related with cyber security and cyber defense. Unlike previous year when the focus was on strategic, legal and technical aspects of cyber defense, the main focus and working title of this year's school is "Terrorist use of cyberspace."

The thing that makes these schools organized by the Military Academy and partners unique is the comprehensive approach to cyber security. Namely, although the treatment of cyber security is more and more intense and numerous events organized by the academic and professional community in the region of South-Eastern Europe are dedicated to this matter, the approach that Military Academy builds toward cyber security is different and unique. In accordance with the guidelines of the state leadership, instead of exclusively technical focus on cyber security and defense, the Military Academy builds a comprehensive approach toward these areas from academic and professional aspect. Thus, apart from the technical aspects, special attention is dedicated to strategic and political aspects (building and developing strategies, policies and doctrines), legal aspects (ranging from privacy and human rights to the use of force) and social aspects of cyber security.

In that context, the main goal of this year's school is to provide a comprehensive approach about the means of terrorist use of cyberspace. Over 20 eminent experts from UN, NATO, EU, UK, USA, Turkey, Estonia, Italy, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Macedonia and from large private security companies will speak about the latest trends of recruitment through the Internet, the training process,    the process of radicalization, information gathering and spying, and about the potential attacks that can be characterized as a cyber-terrorist attacks. The school will be attended by over 40 students from regional countries including NATO countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia) and partner countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro).

However, this is not the only success of the Military Academy. Last year, despite the NATO sponsored school, the Military Academy started excellent cooperation with RACVIAC, Regional Centre for Security Cooperation in the field of cyber crime and protection of the critical information infrastructure. That cooperation has deepened with joint multi-annual project that resulted with several conferences organized by the Military Academy and RACVIAC this year. Thus, firstly, in the first half of this year there was organized "Conference of the regional CERT teams of South-Eastern Europe” (teams for civilian cyber defense) in Zagreb, Croatia. In October this year in cooperation with RACVIAC and American University of Sarajevo, the Military Academy organized “Conference dedicated to the protection of privacy and national security in cyberspace” which was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are also numerous trainings for public administration and security sector in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense (Human Resources Department) and training for the banking sector in cooperation with the Financial Intelligence Office and the Economic Chamber of Macedonia.

If we add the fact that the Military Academy in 2015 plans to launch the Institute for cyber security and digital forensics, and that it accredited program for a second cycle Master studies in this field, it could rightly be said that, military Academy is a regional leader in the domain of cyber security.

 

GALLERY