A new state-of-the-art cyber security tool and the protection of the state from cyber-attacks, the National Intelligence Service (NIS)with the creation of a Cyber ​​Security Operations Center, which will operate from July 24, 2023, according to official information from top officials.

According to the Ministry of Defense, this project completes a complex network of initiatives, through which the Service assumes a central coordinating role in the protection of all state entities from cyber attacks, while at the same time strengthening the country’s position, as it is equipped and strengthened with cutting-edge technologies and tools , harmonized with international standards.

The Cyber ​​Security Operations Center (SOC – Security Operation Center) will operate in the Directorate of Cyberspace of the EYP and will be responsible for monitoring, detecting and reacting to cyber threats and security breaches of the country’s state digital infrastructures. In essence, it comes to complement the actions of the EYP’s Electronic Attack Response Team, which works to support all state agencies in matters related to the prevention, early warning and response to cyberattacks. In this way, the role of the Service as a National Authority for Countering Electronic Attacks (NATIONAL CERT) is strengthened.

In order to achieve its mission, as stated by the responsible officers of the service, the SOC will have the most modern technologies available internationally and will be staffed with the “cream of the crop”, as they typically say, of the IT staff of the Service itself, as well as the most specialized from various other state bodies that will move to the Ministry of Education, while a competition will also be held for the recruitment of new people, with particularly strict criteria and requirements. At the same time, a special program will be run for the training of executives of other public sector bodies, in order to join a system with the same language and communication codes of the EYP, so that any cyber-attacks can be dealt with immediately and effectively.

As the specific executives explain, the NATIONAL CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team), is one of the four pillars for Cyber ​​Securitywith the mission to secure the sensitive information systems of the Central Administration, to monitor threats, such as DDOS attack attempts and at the same time will be in control for any cyber attack attempt on the sensitive systems of the central Greek government.

In particular, the SOC comes to cover the gap that exists in the field of Cyber ​​Security in the Central Administration of the country and to shield Cyber ​​Security in Greece.

The remaining three pillars of the EYP’s Cybersecurity sector are:

-The National INFOSEC Authority (Information Security), which provides advice, instructions and technical assistance to public bodies in matters of security of communications and all classified systems, networks and information, as well as the promotion of policies for security measures and their inviolable operation, whether it is mobile or landline phones and dealing with malicious actions using special software.

-The TEMPEST National Authority (Telecommunication Electronics Material Protected from Emanating Spurious Transmissions), which is responsible for dealing with attacks on information systems through leaks, including electric, magnetic and sound signals and vibrations, i.e. it ensures the shielding of spaces so that they cannot to leak, either conversations, or communications using special specification systems and equipment.

-And finally, the National CRYPTO Authority, which supports the Government and the Armed Forces in matters of crypto-security, produces the national codes and national keys and, at the same time, issues security policies regarding the use of all kinds of cryptographic products, evaluates and certifies cryptographic systems.