More than 2,000 local self-governments from all Polish voivodeships have received PLN 850,000 in support under the Cyber Secure Self-Government project. Applications for co-financing for a total amount of almost PLN 1.5 billion have been submitted by 90 % of the eligible units. The first agreement for the implementation of the grant was signed with the municipality of Izabelin.

“The huge interest in the project on the part of local governments shows that they are aware of cyber security threats and – moreover – are ready to counter them. The Cyber Secure Local Government programme is not only to provide them with financial support, but also, within the competence of the Ministry of Digitalisation and NASK, substantive support”, said Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, Minister of Digitalisation, in Izabelin.

The head of the Ministry of Digitalisation noted that further agreements will be successively signed, and local government units (JST) will be able to start their activities. “Local authorities will gain funds for secure and efficient offices, data security and accessible electronic services”, he announced.

The development of JST in terms of cyber security will improve the protection of data stored in offices, not least through the development of infrastructure to manage access and back it up.

The resilience of the offices to external factors that could threaten their business continuity, such as attempted attacks on local government IT systems, data theft or power outages, will also be improved. The availability of electronic services provided by local governments will also be improved through the development of network infrastructure and its security mechanisms.

The project Cyber Secure Local Government is implemented by the Digital Poland Project Centre in partnership with the National Research Institute NASK. The project is co-financed by European Funds, as part of the European Funds for Digital Development 2021-2027 programme.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński