Cyber threats are not generally seen as a sufficiently urgent problem. It is still necessary to focus attention on vulnerabilities that today’s society faces more and more, to increase awareness also among the general public and to take steps to eliminate the threats and risks related to the use of modern information and communication technologies. The most serious problem in the area of cyber security in the Slovak Republic is the fact that the protection of cyber space, or the cyber security of the Slovak Republic, is not yet explicitly and integrally regulated in valid law16. Existing capacities and mechanisms in the area of network and information security are no longer sufficient to keep the pace with a dynamically changing environment of threats and to provide a sufficiently high and, above all, legally effective, level of protection in all areas of the state’s administration and of social life. The Slovak Republic, as a member state of NATO and of the EU, also participates in the formulation of international strategic and conceptual documents, international policies and standards and must implement the adopted documents17 and transfer them to national law. The Slovak Republic is active in international cooperation, with representatives in numerous international organizations as well as EU and NATO bodies. The Slovak Republic actively pursues its interests in this area. It regularly participates in cyber trainings (Cyber Coalition, Locked Shields, Cyber Europe and others), testing the abilities and reactions of the Slovak Republic to cyber attacks each year. A training entitled “SISE 2010 to 2013” has been coordinated on a national level. The Slovak Republic closely cooperates, without limitation, with the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn (NATO CCD COE), the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) and the recently created European Cybercrime Centre (EC3). In years 2013 – 2014, the National Security Authority has fully accepted the tasks of building NATO cyber defence and information security in the Slovak Republic within the Forces Targets 2013 defence planning. 2.4 Purpose of the Concept The strategic goal of cyber security in the Slovak Republic is to achieve an open, secure, and protected national cyber space, i.e. building trust in the reliability and security of, above all, critical information and communication infrastructure, as well as building of certainty that this will perform its functions and serve national interests also in cases of cyber attacks. Basing on the current situation in cyber security in the Slovak Republic, the goal of the Concept is to achieve a state where: • Protection of national cyber space is a system operating conceptually, in a coordinated manner, efficiently, effectively, and on a legal basis. • Security awareness of all components of society is systematically increasing. • The private and academic sectors as well as civil society actively participate in the formulation and implementation of the policy of the Slovak Republic in the area of cyber security. • Efficient collaboration is provided for both at national and international levels. • The adopted measures are adequate and respect the protection of privacy and basic human rights and freedoms. 16 See the conclusions of the reports on performance of tasks of the Strategy and Action Plan in Annex no. 3 hereto. 9 17 These include, without limitation, the NATO Policy on Cyber Defence, 2011; NATO Cyber Defence Action Plan; Enhanced NATO Policy on Cyber Defence, 2014; Cyber security Strategy of the European Union: An Open, Safe and Secure Cyberspace JOIN (2013).