Cybersecurity agency to be formed in Armenia

ArmInfo. A special autonomous body for cybersecurity will be created in Armenia. At its September 22 session, the National Assembly Committee on State and  Legal Affairs approved the draft law "On Cybersecurity" and a package  of related documents submitted by the Armenian government for the  first reading.

Introducing the amendments, RA Minister of High-Tech Industry Mkhitar  Aypapetyan noted that the purpose of the package is to create a legal  framework for protecting information systems and critical  infrastructure, including energy, transportation, and the financial  sector, from cyber threats. The bill proposes the creation of a state  autonomous body for cybersecurity that will monitor, assess risks,  and coordinate incident response measures. The scope of regulation  covers relations related to the uninterrupted functioning of  information systems and critical information infrastructures used to  provide vital services; ensuring the availability, integrity, and  confidentiality of processed, distributed, stored, and transmitted  information; notification of cyber incidents, their prevention and  resolution; requirements for cybersecurity service providers; and  monitoring compliance with the requirements of this law.

The draft law clarifies the powers of the body developing state  policy in the field of cybersecurity, represented by the Ministry of  High-Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia, and the body  implementing cybersecurity policy, represented by the autonomous  body, as well as other competent state bodies in this area. The  adoption of the package will create a legal basis for developing a  comprehensive state policy and action plan in the area of  cybersecurity, inventorying and classifying cybersecurity challenges  and risks, and principles for responding to cyber incidents,  strengthening cybersecurity in emergency situations and under martial  law, clarifying roles and responsibilities, planning and conducting  cyber exercises, and implementing programs aimed at raising public  awareness.

To ensure the security of the state information system, an autonomous  body will be tasked with restricting the use of state information  systems and the level of data exchange (X-road). These systems are  created and developed using state budget funds, constitute critical  infrastructure, contain a security component, and are aimed at  providing the public with uninterrupted, secure, and high-quality  services. To implement this function, the body must have clear  legislative provisions and an enabling regulatory framework.

It should be noted that, with the adoption of the bill, the total  annual salary and social security costs, once the relevant positions  and employees of the autonomous body are fully staffed, will amount  to 4-6 billion drams. When calculating the costs, it was taken into  account that the salaries of employees of professional units are high  on the market, and these teams will make up the bulk of the agency's  staff.