After winning the Outstanding Security Performance Award (OSPA) for the best Romanian cybersecurity initiative in 2020 and being a finalist in the Cyber Outstanding Security Performance Awards (Cyber OSPAs) in 2021, the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance (RAISA) won the Cyber Outstanding Security Performance Awards (Cyber OSPAs) in 2022, at the Outstanding Cyber Security Partnership category.

The winners of the Cyber Outstanding Security Performance Awards (Cyber OSPAs) 2022 were announced on Thursday, 15th December, at a gala awards event held in London, England. The partnership between the U.S. Embassy in Romania and the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance won the Outstanding Cyber Security Partnership category.

The partnership between the U.S. Embassy in Romania and the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance started as an initiative to strengthen cyber capacity and cybersecurity education. This partnership brought together law enforcement, public institutions, international private companies, universities, and NGOs, all working together to deliver training activities, develop guidelines, and organize conferences to raise awareness, embody the cybersecurity culture, and protect people and institutions from cybercrime.

https://www.thecyberospas.com

The partnership has a vital component in education and training activities. Various online training activities were developed for public institutions, private companies, and academia, to raise cybersecurity awareness and improve the skills of criminal justice authorities and the private sector in fighting cybercrime. The courses’ topics involved open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools and methods, cybersecurity best practices, cyber threats and malware investigation, cryptocurrencies, online money laundering, and electronic evidence analysis. Law enforcement, public institutions, private companies, and universities joined this initiative and helped by promoting the training activities and sending experts to present methods, tools, and relevant case studies for participants.

https://www.cyberlearning.ro

The partnership focuses on promoting and disseminating cybersecurity research. The International Conference on Cybersecurity and Cybercrime (IC3), a scientific conference organized by the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance, was promoted within this partnership. The purpose of this scientific conference is to encourage the exchange of ideas about the evolution of cyberspace, information security challenges, and new facets of the phenomenon of cybercrime. Students, researchers, professors, and experts from public institutions and private companies chose this framework to present their research in the cybersecurity field. The proceedings of this scientific conference are indexed in international databases.

https://proceedings.cybercon.ro/

To raise the level of awareness, embody the cybersecurity culture, and share best practices in fighting cybercrime, an international conference was organized within this partnership, entitled CyberCon Romania. Experts from the European Union and the United States agencies, public institutions, private companies, and universities had the opportunity to share knowledge, perspectives, and highlight synergies between different areas of expertise: developing cyber defence and cyber resilience, international cooperation for fighting cybercrime, cybersecurity challenges and opportunities, research and development on cybersecurity, and cybersecurity education and career development.

https://www.cybercon.ro

Two guides were developed by the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance with the help of the U.S. Embassy in Romania, to raise the cybersecurity culture and fight fake news. The Cybersecurity Guide (ISBN: 978-973-0-33645-0) contains 18 sections on cybersecurity best practices, and the OSINT for Analyzing Fake News Guide (ISBN: 978-973-0-37583-1) contains 9 sections with OSINT techniques and tools for analyzing fake news.

 
Cybersecurity Guide: https://cyberlearning.ro/cybersecurity-guide/
OSINT Guide: https://cyberlearning.ro/osint-for-analyzing-fake-news/

The latest initiative is CyberClub Romania – a community of students, experts, and organizations, with the goal of analyzing cybersecurity challenges and opportunities. CyberClub Romania provides the opportunity for cybersecurity experts from public institutions, private companies, universities, and NGOs to share their knowledge and experiences and guide students and people interested in building a cybersecurity carrier. Members can discover information about new actions, research projects, training activities, master programs, conferences, and job opportunities in this field.

https://www.cyberclub.ro

The partnership between the U.S. Embassy in Romania and the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance (RAISA) continues to grow by involving more public institutions, international private companies, universities, and NGOs, all working together to raise the cybersecurity culture and create a safer and more secure cyberspace.

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The Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance (RAISA), with the help of the U.S. Embassy in Romania, launches the course “Cybersecurity awareness for children and parents“, on March 11, 2021, at 17:00 (Bucharest time). The course is developed within the project “Enhance Cyber Capacity Building in Romania for Preventing and Combating the Cybercrime Phenomenon“, funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of State.

The aim of the course “Cybersecurity awareness for children and parents” is to improve the cybersecurity awareness for children and parents.

The course will be online, on the Microsoft Teams platform.
The target of this course: children and parents.
The participants will receive a certificate of attendance, issued by the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance.

See more details about the course overview and curriculum.

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The Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance (RAISA), with the help of the U.S. Embassy in Romania, launches the course “The importance of teaching cybersecurity to the next generation“, on March 04, 2021, at 17:00 (Bucharest time). The course is developed within the project “Enhance Cyber Capacity Building in Romania for Preventing and Combating the Cybercrime Phenomenon“, funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of State.

The aim of the course “The importance of teaching cybersecurity to the next generation” is to improve the cybersecurity curricula in schools and universities.

The course will be online, on the Microsoft Teams platform.
The target of this course: high-schools and academia.
The participants will receive a certificate of attendance, issued by the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance.

See more details about the course overview and curriculum.

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The Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance (RAISA), with the help of the U.S. Embassy in Romania, launches the course “Cybersecurity solutions – How to protect devices and computer networks“, on February 25, 2021, at 17:00 (Bucharest time). The course is developed within the project “Enhance Cyber Capacity Building in Romania for Preventing and Combating the Cybercrime Phenomenon“, funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of State.

The aim of the course “Cybersecurity solutions – How to protect IT devices and computer networks” is to improve the cybersecurity skills of non-IT professionals.

The course will be online, on the Microsoft Teams platform.
The target of this course: non-IT professionals.
The participants will receive a certificate of attendance, issued by the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance.

See more details about the course overview and curriculum.

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The Cyber Security Protection Summit Peru 2019 was organized in Lima, Peru, by Secure Soft Corporation, on June 11, 2019. Mr. Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ioan-Cosmin MIHAI attended this event as a keynote speaker and a representative of the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance (RAISA).

The main goal of the event was to create a platform for the public-private dialogue in the field of cybersecurity, to explain the current cyber threats and cyber-attacks and the importance of cybersecurity.

The conference was open by Mr. Oscar Aviles, CEO of Secure Soft Corporation and Mr. Jorge Castañeda, General Director of Secure Soft Corporation. They presented the importance of the event for creating a safe and secure space in Peru.

As well, Mr. Castañeda said that the company invests in technological development, continues to expand the capabilities of its cyber SOC and is incorporating machine learning and artificial intelligence within its capabilities. Mr. Aviles, commented on the Framework, which is the reference document for cybersecurity strategies that establishes a security roadmap, revealing the level of maturity and security of the companies.

Mr. Ioan-Cosmin MIHAI, the Vice President of the Romanian Association for Information Security Assurance (RAISA) presented the latest challenges in the field of cybersecurity, describing also the solutions for fighting the current cyber threats.

Mr. Mihai said that the main threat is the one we all simply know as malware and presented the geography of local malware attacks.  In the group of most significant malware, there are the financial trojans, ransomware, cryptojacking and botnets. Then, Mr. Mihai analyzed the online and offline attacks vectors, discussing also solutions to fight the cybercrime phenomenon.

In the last part of the first panel, Mr. Marcos Isasi from Secure Soft Corporation, discussed about the role and how to build a Cyber SOC. Mr. Isasi said that the most important component in the creation of the cyber SOC are the people: the analysts. The second component is a SIEM, and a company that does not have a SIEM, can hardly cope with the attacks, “because not even a Jedi will be able to read all the logs.”

The third component is the management of vulnerabilities, since no company can guarantee that it is 100% secure, since there is always the possibility that an area of the company generates a vulnerability; therefore, the vulnerability management process must be constant. The fourth component is cyber intelligence, which is all information, updated, that will feed the SIEM. The last advice Mr. Isasi gave to professionals who want to implement a cyber SOC is to automate their processes, something that SecureSoft has already done.

The conference was structured into 4 panels, where representatives from 16 important cybersecurity companies explained the needs of the cyber protection and their solutions.

Companies like CheckPoint, DarkTrace, F5 Networks, FireEye, Fortinet, MCafee, Palo Alto Networks, Tenable, Akamai, CyberArk, Qualys, Cyxtera, Progress, or Symantec showed live their cybersecurity applications in the exhibition hall of the conference.

In the end of the event there was a conference press, where Mr. Oscar Aviles (CEO Founder – Secure Soft Corporation), Mr. Jorge Castaneda (Corporate Regional Manager – Secure Soft Corporation) and Mr. Ioan-Cosmin MIHAI (RAISA) presented the importance of the security in the cyberspace.

The excellent meeting infrastructure, the prominent speakers and the advanced cybersecurity solutions contributed to interesting and stimulating discussions and the competent and attentive staff ensured the success of the Cyber Security Protection Summit Peru 2019.

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