The 4 digital projects that “change” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Shields the cryptographic security infrastructure

By Gogos Katseli

Four digital projects that will transform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are expected to be announced in the summer, specifically in the period June-July.

The budget is € 60 million and the necessary resources will be provided by the Recovery and Sustainability Fund with pre-financing from national resources.

The main objectives of the project are:

• The standardization of the procedures of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will ensure the viability of the Strategic and Operational Planning and, consequently, its success.
• The promotion of the object of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and capitalization of its resources, aligning them with its intended objectives.
• Ensuring instant access to information, in the fastest possible time frame, incorporating semantic search support, based on state-of-the-art artificial intelligence tools.
• Access to a file database and information center for the effective administration and coverage of the requirements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is of the utmost importance for the exercise of public and financial diplomacy.
• The upgrade of the cryptographic ICT security infrastructure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the context of its digital transformation.

The budget amounts to 60 million euros and the project will be implemented under Axis 2.2 – “Digital transformation of the state” of the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability and the necessary resources will be provided by the Fund for Recovery and Sustainability with pre-financing by Nationals.

The project “Digital Transformation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” will be implemented through the following four sub-projects:

Sub-project 1: Strategic and Business Planning Support System (€ 5 million)

Subproject 1 includes, inter alia, the following actions:

1. Studies on:

• standardization of models for describing information for the implementation of Strategic and Business Planning
• the selection and implementation of the methodology for the prioritization of goals and actions of Strategic and Business Planning
• the selection of performance indicators and the monitoring of their implementation Strategic and Business Planning

2. Workflow platform, electronic document management system and e-mail platform and user management system

3. Procurement of the necessary infrastructure (hardware and software) for the operation of the information systems that will be implemented.

Sub-project 2: Digitization of the Diplomatic and Historical Archive (amounting to 24.6 million euros)

Subproject 2 includes the following actions:

1. Digitization of all the contents of the Diplomatic and Historical Archive of the Ministry, of the order of 65,000,000 pages of various dimensions with extensive and detailed documentation of the content of each document

2. Supply and installation of storage system (infrastructure and software) for hosting the Diplomatic and Historical Archive as well as security management systems.

3. Supply, configuration and installation of a digital repository system, based on modern artificial intelligence technologies so that there is the possibility for intelligent and semantic search.

Subproject 3: Global Digital Information Center Platform (€ 15 million)

Subproject 3 includes the following:

1. Supply and Installation of digital information center equipment
The equipment will include:
i. International Media Recording Equipment.
ii. Desktop Client equipment for the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2. Implementation of applications

I. Collection system for monitoring and monitoring international media.
The system will include the following two subsystems:

• Subsystem for recording and watching selected TV and radio programs.
• International Media Monitoring Management Subsystem. The system will support monitoring management for each selected country separately.

II. User and content management platform and distribution applications. The entire environment will operate online through a state-of-the-art portal system to make it accessible to both internal and external users using the internet and state-of-the-art mobile technology.

III. A system for collecting and classifying targeted television and radio reports that will automatically search for and classify all targeted reports on the television and radio stations of each selected country.

3. Services
I. Collection, evaluation, translation management and content documentation services – monitoring management services for each selected country
II. Reference content analysis services by an experienced content support team, which will assist in the smooth operation of the Digital Center and the services offered.

Subproject 4: Modernization of cryptographic ICT security infrastructures of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (15,600,000.00 with VAT)

Subproject 4 includes the following actions:

1. Classified Teleconferencing System of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The action includes:
i. Audiovisual Teleconferencing in a safe and reliable way, between the users of the Central Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 142 Foreign Service Authorities around the world and the Public Services belonging to the International NET-VIS Network.
ii. Implementation of a management system that supports teleconferencing.

2. Information system for the distribution of classified diplomatic correspondence

The action includes:
i. Study for the implementation of redesign of functional and technological specifications
ii. Workflow platform
iii. Closed Electronic Document Distribution System
iv. Closed e-mail system
v. Role and user management system
vi. Library of modern encryption methods (Development of national encryption algorithms)
vii. Content management tools
viii. Security management platform
ix. End-to-end communication and data protection technologies (H / W & S / W) (firewalls for external and regional service authorities)

3. Supply, configuration and installation of equipment:

• For the modernization of the telecommunication infrastructure of the Central Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and specifically:
i. Implementation of structured cabling in the buildings of the Central Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
ii. Supply of active network equipment
iii. Supply of IP Call Center platform

• Computers and servers at the Central Service and the External Services Authorities

• Printers and scanners at the Central Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

• Systems for enhancing the physical safety of cages at the Central Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Maintenance of electromagnetic shielding of Faraday cages. The cages host European and NATO-rated systems, for which the State Department is required to accept inspections and checks on the condition of Faraday cages. In this context, it is necessary to strengthen their physical security (Intrusion Detection / Prevention Systems, alarms, etc.) with appropriate mechanisms.

• Electronic Electromagnetic Shielding Equipment. This category includes cryptocurrencies and their supporting infrastructures (eg keypad), one-way data devices (diodes), electromagnetic shielding equipment (Tempest) including computers (fixed and portable), printers, racks and other peripherals. and other cryptocurrencies.

• Mobile and fixed satellite units, support for alternative communication channels. In order to support the mobile telephony requirements of the main offices of the Ministry, it is necessary to supply (and support) satellite communication units for receiving / sending and managing classified information in uncontrolled environments (dynamic and potentially unsafe). In addition, it is necessary to implement alternative communication channels for cases of crisis management or non-availability of other communication channels (eg HF communication).

As reported in skai.gr, Stavros Asthenidis, CEO of the Information Society, has undertaken the implementation of the projects “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the central coordinator for the formulation and promotion of a modern and effective national policy both geopolitically and economically by attracting foreign investment, export promotion and overall extroverted development of Greek entrepreneurship. So it is priority is the shielding and modernization of its digital functions. The widespread digital intervention undertaken by this extremely important project will contribute to the provision of advanced, reliable, secure, innovative and interoperable digital services. At the same time, the simplification of the procedures, the efficiency and finally the improvement of the quality of the services provided by the Ministry to all the Greek citizens and the Greek companies in all the lengths and breadths of the world will be achieved “,

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