Foreword
The dependency of today’s society on information and communication technologies increases every
day; over the past decade, these have changed and impacted almost every aspect of our lives. Human
activities are slowly but surely shifting, to a large extent, from physical space to cyberspace. On the one
hand, information and communication technologies make our lives easier, speeding up communication
and access to information and services. On the other hand, however, the increasing dependency of
the public and private sectors on these technologies, if insufficiently protected, renders them more
vulnerable, making cyber security one of the most important challenges the state has to face today.
Globalism and the significance of impacts of potential cyber attacks have resulted in the need for a
conceptual and coordinated control of protection and defence of cyber space.
By adopting this Concept, the Slovak Republic has established its visions and priorities providing
for cyber security in the country. The Concept has to be seen as the “cornerstone”, the basic and
starting document for the subsequent formulation of legislation, standards, methodology, rules,
security policies and other tools necessary for ensuring the protection and defence of national
cyber space.
The Concept, based on a strategic and methodological framework shaped in NATO, EU, OECD and UN
documents for the area of cyber security, proposes the adoption and priority treatment of seven key
measures; the implementation thereof will be specified in a material, time and financial plan in the
form of a Concept Implementation Action Plan. The purpose of cyber security in the Slovak Republic,
as seen by the Concept, should be an open, secure and protected national cyber space, i.e. the building
of trust in the reliability and security of, without limitation, critical information and communication
infrastructure, as well as the building of certainty that this infrastructure will fulfil its functions and
also serve national interests in cases of cyber attacks.
Cyber security ought to be perceived as one of the key components of national security. It is a complex
field involving both legal and technical aspects and required trust and collaboration of the public
sector, private sector and academic institutions. The rights, duties and tasks of individual actors in
cyber space will be soon established by adopting and creating an institutional and legal framework of
cyber security; the Cyber Security Act will certainly form a substantial milestone in the perception of
cyber security in the Slovak Republic.
Cyber security can only be achieved using mutual trust and collaboration since it is only by making
mutual efforts that we can succeed in building both an open and secure cyber space from which we all
may benefit.
Peter Pellegrini
Speaker of the National Council
of the Slovak Republic
Digital Champion
of the Slovak Republic
4
Robert Fico
Prime Minister
of the Slovak Republic