RADU DORCIOMAN, COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER: "Banks have become cybercrime targets"

Just like the web has no borders, cyrbercrime has no borders either, Radu Horia Dorcioman, state secretary in the Ministry of Communications and Computerized Society said in the opening speech of the 2nd edition of the Cybersecurity conference, sent by Minister Marius Bostan.

The official said: "As we all know, the internet has no borders. Through the web, any citizen can communicate instantly and has unlimited access to any service or informational resource: news, education, financial services.

Just like the internet has no borders, cybercrime has no borders either, and the global distribution of the internet services involves the need for a coordinated approach and in tight cooperation with other countries, to answer this growing threat.

Cyberspace is becoming increasingly important and integrated in every area of our lives. Services tied to the information and communication sector show that the financial market, transport and health systems, water and food support systems, various industries are interconnected and interdependent".

The volume of online transactions is constantly rising, the representative of the Ministry of Communications said: "I don't think it's a secret to anyone that banks have become targets of cybercrime, and modern financial instruments, such as stocks traded on the stock exchange, online payments or other such methods are the most targeted. As a result, we must ensure that these instruments remain safe".

Cybercrime has become a progressive business, and organized crime is looking for sources in every environment, including the online environment, Mr. Dorcioman further said, who thinks that the development of the cybersecurity capabilities in the public or private sector "is a responsibility for all of us". The state can help us with the creation of the legislative framework, with stimulating investments and the education of end-users, the official said, and he added: "Ensuring cybersecurity should represent a major concern for all the involved players, both on an institutional level, where the majority of the drafting and application of some cohesive policies in the sector, as well as the level of the private entities interested in protecting their own patrimony and private property".

The Ministry is focusing on drawing a regulatory framework in the area of cybersecurity, having put up a new draft law concerning Romania's cybersecurity for public debate at the end of January.

The legislative initiative has been drawn up taking into consideration the criticisms made through Decision no. 17/2015 of the Romanian Constitutional Court on the unconstitutionality objection of the provisions of the first draft Law concerning Cybersecurity, launched in April 2014, said Radu Dorcioman: "The new legislative act is addressed to public authorities and institutions, companies that own cybernetic structures which, if they were harmed, would affect the national security or cause serious harm to the Romanian state or to its citizens.

The law also applies to legal persons that own cybernetic infrastructures which process personal information, to the suppliers of electronic communications, electronic communications services meant for the public, web hosting providers and cybersecurity providers".

So far, three sessions of public debates concerning the Law of Cyber Security have been organized, as the law is in the process of being approved.