“The draft law for the National Cyber ​​Security Authority is a crucial step in order to respond to the growing national needs, but also to the imperative EU commitments, upgrading the level of supervision, information and support of the actors involved in the field of cyber security and strengthening the digital innovation ecosystem in the country , through the configuration of an environment with secure infrastructures».

This he underlined the Minister of Digital Governance, Dimitris Papastergiouin the competent committee of the Parliament, during the elaboration of the bill for the “National Cyber ​​Security Authority».

Responding to the objections of the opposition and competent bodies that this body should be an independent authority, Mr. Papastergiou emphasized that “the new National Cyber ​​Security Authority is not established as an Independent Authority, because on the one hand, according to European data, it is not a good practice and on the other hand, because as an institution it does not protect any fundamental constitutionally guaranteed right, such as personal data, or privacy of communications, while also not regulating any special market».

“The new National Cyber ​​Security Authority is an operational structure, which increases the level of supervision, information and support of the actors involved in the field of cyber security. At the same time, it strengthens the digital innovation ecosystem in the country by creating an environment with secure infrastructure. And in order not to create misconceptions about the control and security of the systems, I must make it clear that cyber-attacks are not about personal data, unless it is leaked due to the attacks on the systems“, pointed out.

“We are creating the separate NPDD, because in the new digital world where technological developments ‘run’ at an exponential rate, the strengthening of the digital state is an imperative to be even more secure” noted Mr. Papastergiou. “It was not the government’s intention to build another N.P.D.D. to serve petty political purposes. The purpose is to strengthen the authority’s capabilities and supervisory role, in view of the implementation of the NIS2 Directive, which will come into effect in October 2024 and will dramatically increase the number of supervised entities from approximately 70 to 2,000. Beyond ‘traditionally’ critical infrastructures such as energy, digital infrastructure and banking, other sectors will be included, such as public administration, couriers, manufacturing, production and distribution of chemical products, as well as manufacturing and processing food. A Directorate General cannot cover all these bodies. That is why we are creating a new agency, which will cover these increased requirements“, he pointed out and added:

“According to recent estimates, the global cost of cybercrime is roughly estimated at ten trillion euros for the year 2023, maintaining a doubling rate every two years. This is a huge cost, a large part of which affects the European Union as a whole and therefore our country. Cyber-attacks in Greece follow, in correspondence with all the countries of the Western world, an ever-increasing trend, with serious incidents multiplying even in cases that ultimately do not always lead to a serious disruption of critical services that support information systems. Such a volume of obligations requires a separate N.P.D.D to be able to respond to the increased requirements».

“In the DNA of the new agency should be extroversion, especially in view of the fact that it will supervise 2000 agencies, many of which are private. In addition, extroversion is also required for the continuation of the European programs that the General Directorate of Cybersecurity is still implementing today, but also for us to implement projects at the level of equipment“, he underlined and concluded:

“The Cyber ​​Security Bill, together with the soon-to-be-tabled Digital Services Act Bill, will make citizens feel much safer about browsing the internet and will enable anything that happens to we are more direct and targeted about it».