Iniciative #12 – Cybersecurity and Digital Infrastructures

Rationale

Digital infrastructures are the foundation of a modern and competitive society, playing a central role in promoting innovation, ensuring security, and fostering sustainable growth and well-being for people.

In light of the recent surge in cyber incidents (CERT, 2023), it is imperative that cybersecurity is prioritised at a national level.

This initiative is designed to bolster the country's digital defences in a context where emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and cloud services present novel security challenges (CERT, 2024).

Details

This initiative will strengthen the cybersecurity of the Public Administration and the digital sovereignty of Portugal. It is critical to ensure that the country is prepared to protect and manage its information in a sovereign and resilient manner.

One of the key pillars of this initiative is the development of a sovereign cloud, which will host the data of Public Administration entities. This will ensure better management, efficiency gains, and compliance with high security and protection requirements. This cloud infrastructure could also offer digital storage solutions for SMEs facing difficulties in accessing cloud computing services.

The ability to anticipate and respond to cybersecurity incidents will be reinforced. The initiative will support the development of existing platforms for identifying, monitoring, and responding to cyber incidents, enhancing Portugal's real-time response capability to digital threats. A dedicated pool of hours will be established for Public Administration entities, enabling the procurement of cybersecurity specialists to provide direct assistance in the event of critical cyber incidents.

A time bank will be established for Public Administration entities, enabling the hiring of cybersecurity specialists to support public entities in the event of critical cyber incidents.

This will be implemented in coordination with the Cloud Working Group, created within the framework of the Council for Digitalisation in Public Administration (Conselho para o Digital na Administração Pública, CDAP).