The growth of cyber threats and their complexity makes cybersecurity one of the most pressing issues of our time. The professional development of qualified cyber specialists is part of the formation of a strong talent pool in the country.

On 28 June, the High School, together with the National Agency of State Service of Ukraine for Special Communications and Information Protection and the State Service of Ukraine for Special Communications and Information Protection, held a workshop for senior government officials and public servants responsible for cybersecurity in government agencies and critical infrastructure sectors.

The training was supported by the EU project “Support to Comprehensive Public Administration Reform in Ukraine” (EU4PAR 2).

As part of joint initiatives aimed at strengthening cybersecurity and protecting critical infrastructure, the Graduate School and the State Service for Special Communications offer various professional development programmes for civil servants and local government officials.

It should be noted that this was the second such meeting for civil servants of category B (61 people), and the 4th meeting for category A (12 people) and deputy ministers (8 people).

The main topic of the seminar was the submission of information to the Register of Critical Information Infrastructure and the implementation of the General Requirements for the Cyber Defence of Critical Infrastructure.

This year, the High School, together with the State Special Communications Service, developed the Cyber Incident Response programme, which has already trained 23 cybersecurity specialists. Another 367 specialists will be able to upgrade their skills by the end of the year. In addition, 30 civil servants of categories B and C were trained under the joint Cyber Security programme. Two new cybersecurity training programmes are planned to be developed to develop the professional competencies of category A civil servants and specialists providing cyber defence in institutions.