Publications of the Prime Minister’s Office 2024:13
1
Introduction – cybersecurity is part of
comprehensive security
Cybersecurity is part of Finland’s comprehensive security and digitalising
society, helping to ensure operating conditions for national security, national
defence, security of supply, business community and civil society. A shift in
geopolitical conditions has further underlined the importance of national and
international cooperation in ensuring cybersecurity, with an increased need
in particular for cooperation between public authorities and the business
community, supporting the resilience of society, and responding to hostile
activity. The operating environment is strongly characterised by accelerating
digitalisation, the development of new technologies and associated global
competition, continually growing interdependencies, and other megatrends
that affect the future, such as climate change and demographic change. Basic
societal structures and services, such as information and communication
networks and associated infrastructure, must function under all circumstances.
The national cybersecurity strategy has been revised in response to the evolving
operating environment as outlined in the Government Programme of Prime
Minister Petteri Orpo. Cybersecurity generally means protective measures taken
against cyber threats to communication and information systems and other
electronic systems, to the data stored, processed or transferred in them, and to their
users, appliers and other concerned parties. Cybersecurity has traditionally been
viewed from a more technical perspective, and not so much as a matter of national
security. This strategy particularly relates to national cybersecurity, meaning
the measures that enable a digital society to prepare for, identify, combat and
withstand incidents in electronic and networked systems and their impacts on vital
functions and services of society, to recover from them, and to ensure the operating
conditions for national security, national defence and security of supply.
The European Union cybersecurity directive (NIS2) and its national implementation
have also required a revision of the cybersecurity strategy. Finland’s revised
cybersecurity strategy is the third of its kind, and continues to promote the
cybersecurity ecosystem philosophy that was introduced in a development
programme based on the previous cybersecurity strategy. Preparation of the
strategy has accommodated other pertinent strategy and reporting work,
most notably on the following government resolutions: Finland’s Cybersecurity
10