A Pledge Signed to Mitigate Human-related Risks in Cyber Space

Riga, 18 May, 2015. – Today, on May 18 in Brussels the Ministers of Defence of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Finland and Austria as well as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on behalf of the European External Action Service, EU Military Committee and European Defence Agency, signed a Pledge to mitigate human-related risks in cyber space by launching the Cyber Hygiene initiative.

By joining the pledge, the signatory Member States or EU institutions promise to take implement the principles of the pledge by the end of 2016. The pledge entails a declaration to adopt internal guidelines for comprising the best behavioral principles for cyber hygiene. Additionally signatories promise to implement the guidelines by introducing, for example, a mandatory e-learning platform.

Although cyber threats are highly technical by nature, human behavior related risk is a cause of up to 97% of security incidents. It is essential to take action to ensure that employees and staff receive a proper education on risks and threats existing in cyber space.

This initiative is part of a wider project, which aims to educate the members of defence sector institutions on secure behavior while using the computer and Internet. The Project proposal idea is owned by the Estonian Ministry of Defence, but the Latvian Ministry of Defence was kindly invited to join the initiative at its inception to strengthen the implementation and to increase the visibility of the project. The Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU is going to be used as a platform to advertise the education on cyber risks and threats on the EU level.

Media contacts:
Anete Gnēze, Senior Desk Officer of the Media Relations Section
Military Public Affairs Department
Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia
Phone: 00 371 67335093; Cell: 00 371 26474087
E-mail: anete.gneze@mod.gov.lv
Website: www.mod.gov.lv