The Municipality of Larissa, as pilot of the CS-AWARE program, will use it in order to be aware of potential threats against its data and to take the necessary precautions. However, cyber-attacks are threatening with the same dangerous way smaller LPAs that are offering equivalent services and administrate personal data (financial and identity data). These LPAs don’t have the necessary staff, the infrastructure and the know-how to protect their systems and confront external as well internal “enemies”.
The Municipality of Larissa as the biggest municipality in its region has already taken the initiative to communicate the CS-AWARE initiative. We participated in conferences-forums relevant to public administration and presented our participation in the project and the progress that has been achieved. We already informed our “neighboring” smaller LPAs about the benefits that the implementation of the final product would bring to their organization. Furthermore, we could assist those smallest LPAs be prepared as future possible end users of the product. This includes helping them perform the necessary analysis of the existing infrastructure, the different software they are using, the flows and procedures that are executed during a citizen’s transaction with the Municipality. This way it will be easier to detect possible vulnerabilities and “weak-points” of the systems.
Additionally, the Municipality of Larissa, keeping in mind the good connection with the educational institutions of its region (University of Thessalia, Technological Education Institution) can contribute to the engagement of the scientific community regarding CS-AWARE. By communicating the whole attempt, it is possible to attract the interest for further research and development as regards the protection against cyber-threats. Moreover, information data and statistics from our experience on the subject could be presented to IT Master courses of the aforementioned institutions. We could in this way awaken the students’ interest and attention towards this direction.
Kolovou Georgia, Poultsidis Thanasis
Municipality of Larissa
