Skopje, 17 February 2023 (MIA) – Preventive measures taken in order to protect electronic data are very important in dealing with hacker attacks as one of the key modern security challenges, and should be the top priority of all institutions, Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski said on Friday.

“All hacker attacks have been reported and are being investigated. However, it is very important for all institutions to take preventive measures aimed at protecting the electronic data, because this is the cheapest option. Everything else is much more challenging once the attacks happen. Apart from migration, one of the key challenges that comes with the future is terrorism, and the hacker attacks are a part of these terrorist attacks,” said Spasovski in answer to a journalist’s question.

Asked whether security analyses have been done over the electronic data of the institutions and how safe they are, he said it should be taken into account that the electronic protection systems should constantly be modernized because they change quickly.

“A system of protection that is new today won’t necessarily be relevant in six months or a year. In that sense, the systems of all institutions should be upgraded and activities are being undertaken to do this on a daily basis. The construction of the ICT Center in Prilep is proof of what we have done as a Ministry to protect electronic data, the goal of the Center is to protect the electronic data of the MoI and other institutions. And this should be a basic priority of all institutions because it is important that critical infrastructure is fully protected,” said Spasovski. ad/ik/