Armenia to Create Independent Cybersecurity Body

At a session of the National Assembly, the Minister of High-Tech Industry of Armenia, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, announced the need to create a special independent body to address cybersecurity issues. The new body is to be created by the parliament. It will consist of a five-member commission, which will also be formed by the National Assembly. The minister believes that highly qualified specialists and experts with very high qualifications and capabilities should be involved in the commission's work. "Cyber defense is a serious component from the point of view of national security threats," Hayrapetyan noted. Corresponding cybersecurity structures are planned to be introduced in public administration bodies and the private sector. It is also planned to launch a system of cybersecurity services. "In the first stage, the system is planned to be implemented by involving companies with critical infrastructure," the minister said.

The purpose of this legislative package is to create a legal framework for the protection of information systems and critical infrastructure. This, as the minister noted, includes the energy, transport, and financial sectors. These sectors should be prioritized for protection against possible cyberattacks.

The state autonomous cybersecurity body will monitor, assess risks, and coordinate incident response measures. Its regulatory framework will include issues related to the uninterrupted operation of information systems and critical information infrastructure used to provide vital services, as well as ensuring the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of processed, distributed, stored, and transmitted information, notification, prevention, and resolution of cyber incidents, the requirements for cybersecurity service providers, and compliance with existing laws.

The legislative package will also clarify the powers of the body responsible for developing state policy in the field of cybersecurity. In particular, it concerns the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of the RA.

To ensure the security of the state information system, the autonomous body will be entrusted with the functions of restricting the possibility of using state information systems, as well as restricting the level of data exchange. To achieve these goals and objectives, 4-6 billion drams will be allocated annually from the state budget.

The legislative initiative was generally received positively. However, opposition deputies expressed a number of doubts. The fears were not related to the technical aspects of the proposal, but to whether the current government would not use it all for political purposes.