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Cyber Terrorism - a 21st Century Challenge for State Security


An advanced training course on cyber terrorism was conducted in Chisinau, Moldova, from 12 to 16 October 2009 to examine ways of developing national awareness and prevention programs to inform governments, academic institutes, businesses and private users of cyber security risks.

The event was organized in cooperation with the NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism (NATO COE DAT), the NATO International Staff/ Defence Policy and Planning Division (NATO IS) and with the support of the NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme.

The training gathers governmental officials from Moldova and neighboring countries, as well as representatives from agencies and organizations responsible for national security.

About 40 - 50 participants from Moldova and other countries, including governmental bodies, ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions accredited in Chisinau, representatives of ministries, agencies and organizations responsible for the national security participated at the workshop.

The main goal of the five-day program was to train participants in identifying and assessing cyber threats, making effective decisions and elaborating strategies to counter cyber terrorism. The training will also encourage information-sharing and collaboration to reinforce cohesion among participants and create a common understanding of the risks that could affect state cyber-security.

The training provided an opportunity to sustain initiatives in examination of basic belief about cybercrime, which certainly must be analyzed within government, academia, defense sector and industry. The project represents a first step in providing a new understanding of cyber-security, where the training proceedings will serve educational purposes. The project will also highlight the importance and strengthen the educational background of key institution representatives in the field of state security. The participants were trained on effective decision making and strategies’ elaboration, encourage the cross-disciplinary sharing of information that could help national security leaders’ create complementary defensive solutions, build on shared expertise and innovation.

The contribution of the training will enforce the cohesion and the common understanding of the instability risks that could affect state cyber-security and the beginning of a new stability dimensions for the regional and European space.

The event in Chisinau, Moldova is one of the many others training workshops provided by NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism (COE-DAT).

COE-DAT was officially inaugurated on 28 June 2005 and certified as a NATO accredited COE with the NATO Council Decision dated 14 August 2006. COE-DAT is the unique defense against terrorism center of NATO, which provides DAT training and education at the strategic and operational levels and contributes to experimentation works. As a part of its education and training activities, COE-DAT is providing training to chosen neighboring countries through conducting Advanced Training Courses within the framework of NATO Security Through Science Program.

The visions of the NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism are:

  • To overcome terrorism, a serious threat to the world peace, by establishing an internationally respected centre, consisting of other countries with common goals.
  • To become NATO`s Transformation expert for Defence against Terrorism.
  • To develop and maintain an academic institution which coordinates with related agencies and allied countries.
  • To foster continual self-development by conducting results oriented studies, giving direction and providingeducation and training as a complete concrete contribution to the fight against terrorism today, and in the future.

 

The NATO COE_DAT also contributed with a 25hours online training course "The 'Defence Against Suicide Bombing' posted on http://pfp.ethz.ch/. The course is planned to inform about the most acute and serious threat, 'suicide bombing'. The course is developed in the Centre of Excellence - Defence Against Terrorism (COE-DAT), Ankara/Turkey and is provided for the purpose of keeping NATO personnel informed about suicide bombing attacks.

The opinions and the comments expressed in this course are those of lecturers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of COE-DAT, the Turkish General Staff of Republic of Turkey, or NATO."

The course belongs to PfP LMS Online Courses and could be accessed on via PfP Consortium Portal http://consortium.pims.org.

References:

1. North Atlantic Treaty Organization http://www.nato.int
2. Centre of Excellence Defense against Terrorism http://www.tmmm.tsk.tr/index.htm
3. Pro Marshall Center of the Republic of Moldova http://www.promarshall.md
4. PfP Consortium of Military Academies and Security Studies http://consortium.pims.org
5. PIMS Members site https://members.pims.org (requires registration and login)
6. Centru de telecomunicatii speciale http://www.cts.md