ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON CYBER SECURITY CHALLENGES – SMOLYAN
Rhodope Values Foundation together with VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", "Nikola Vaptsarov" Naval Academy and the Institute for Prospective Defence Studies, organized a round table discussion on "Challenges to Cyber Security. Youth Security on the Internet" in the Smolyan branch of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", which took place on 21 April 2018.
The forum was opened by Mr Yani Yanev - Chairperson of the Management Board of the Rhodope Values Foundation and Vice President of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar". As lecturers were invited and took part with papers university lecturers from two universities which train security and cyber security staff, experts from the executive and NGOs, as well as students from VFU. As co-initiator of the forum "Nikola Vaptsarov" Naval Academywas presented by Fleet Admiral Prof. Boyan Mednikarov (Head of the Naval Academy). Prof. Petar Hristov, PhD (Dean of the Faculty of Law at VFU), Assoc. Prof. Galina Momcheva, PhD (Head of the Department of Informatics and Economics, Faculty of International Economics and Administration, VFU), Veselina Spasova, PhD (Scientific secretary of the Faculty of International Economics and Administration). The Institute for Prospective Defence Studies was represented by its director, Cap. I rank. Prof. YantsislavYanakiev.
The national security experts took part with papers on "Challenges to Cyber security": Georgi Krastev, PhD - Secretary of the Council of Security of the Council of Ministers, Ivan Pavlov, Vice Chairperson of the State Commission on Information Security and Assoc. Prof. Ivo Velikov - commissioner.
Papers on the cyber threats on the Internet, targeted on young people were presented by the students from the Smolyan Branch of VFU: Melinda Tsvetanova (Counteraction to Crime and Public Order Protection) and Borislav Nedelkov (Business Administration and Management), who were invited to participate in the forum by Grigorov, PhD who as organizational secretary of the Foundation, proposed the topic and implemented the preparation of the forum.
The main themes of the papers and the subsequent debates were: national, European and international security and the role of the executive power in the Republic of Bulgaria in the field of cyber security, the evolution of the concepts of security and risk, the role of the human factor in cyber security, the security of public transport in the context of protection against cyber terrorism, the current practices for the analysis and visualization of cyber security data and highlights of personal data protection in the context of the new regulation.
Prof. Mednikarov talked about the partnership of the academic colleges of "Nikola Vaptsarov" Naval Academy and VFU in the preparation of a joint master’s degree programme in Cyber Security.
Spasova, PhD also announced the content of the current specialization "Management and Personal Data Protection", which started at VFU.
The participation in the forum of the Secretary General of the Bulgarian Union for Physical Culture and Sports – Mr Dimitar Manev, gave an opportunity to discuss the issue of the role of sports in the training of security specialists and the necessity of restoring the military applied sports classes at universities. Mr Manev donated sports equipment on behalf of the Bulgarian Union for Physical Culture and Sports to the Smolyan Branch of VFU.
At the end of the debate, the participants, appreciating the usefulness of the forum, united on the idea of continuing the joint efforts of the universities, scientists and the executive to prevent cyber threats to the country. On this occasion, Krastev, PhD proposed that a next workshop will be scheduled for September 2018 to discuss the concrete forms of interaction between academics and the executive in the field of cyber security.
In the closing part, Grigorov, PhD announced donations to a foundation for the purpose of establishing scholarships for VFU students at the Smolyan Branch.
The forum was closed by Mr Yani Yanev, who summarized the results of the discussion and announced that the presented papers will be published in a special issue of the Rhodope magazine.