II.2.11.2.5. Promotion, Readiness and Participation in International Cooperation in the Field of Information Security on National and International Level “Production” and use of information via relevant ICT technologies enable crossing the international borders, which is basic precondition of the global society. Security implications have no borders, therefore, dealing with information threats and achieving information security on a satisfactory level is a challenge and opportunity for cooperation without any borders or limits. The National Strategy should emphasize the development of international standards relevant for information security and integrity and the contribution of Macedonian entities in this international process. Measure 2.11.i. The inclusion of the Republic of Macedonia as an active participant in international alliances for “fight against information threats”. II.12. Interoperability II.12.1. General Notions and Definitions Information society creates a variety of new information and communications technologies and the interoperability in conditions of separately developed and different systems is of great importance. Interoperability represents an opportunity for connecting people, data and various systems. This word can be defined from a technical point of view and from a general point of view, taking into account the social, political and organisational factors. The non-existence of interoperability may cause negative consequences. If the competitive products and services are interoperable, the result can be a monopoly, or even complete distortion of one market. Due to this reason it is necessary that the interoperability is encouraged by the competent state institutions. According to ISO/EC 2382-01, Information Technology Vocabulary, Fundamental Terms, interoperability is defined as: “ability to communicate, execute programs or transfer data among different functional units where the user does not have to have significant knowledge (does not have to have knowledge at all) about the unique characteristics of those units”. In contrast with such a technical definition of interoperability, it happens very often that the interoperability become an issue of organisation. The following expression can also be found: interoperability of business processes (IBP) which is a condition where one process follows certain standards by which it achieve its goal regardless of the ownership, location, production or the design of the computer system which is used. This type of interoperability is one of the most actual ones on a world level. The most Page 34 of 40

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