COOPERATION OF NAPA AND OFFICE FOR IT AND E-GOVERNMENT THROUGH A TRAINING ON INFORMATION SECURITY AND DATA PROTECTION

The director of the National Academy for Public Administration, Marina Dražić, met today with Dr. Mihailo Jovanović, director of the Office for IT and eGovernment, on the premises of NAPA, and launched a new online training for information security and data protection.

In order to improve the security culture among employees in state institutions, the Office and the Academy have developed and launched training aimed at raising awareness of the importance of information and communication technologies (ICT) and data protection. This training covers 5,000 employees from various government bodies, such as state bodies and organizations, as well as local self-government units, and the main goal is risk prevention, both online and offline.

"I want to emphasize the particularly important role of officials in preserving the security of information, and that information is one of the most valuable resources today." It is the officials who protect the integrity and trust in public institutions," said Mrs Dražić, adding that this training is not only intended for civil servants, but also for employees in local self-government units, which fosters the safety culture of officials at all levels and in all public administration bodies of Serbia.

"This training, which is carried out through the online platform of the National Academy for Public Administration, is intended for all civil servants from various government bodies, with the aim of raising awareness of information security, better understanding of threats that can endanger data and information managed by government bodies, identifying and minimizing threats arising from human errors, technical failures, or intentional harmful actions and familiarization with the Law on Information Security and international standards," said Mr Jovanović adding that the training was organized in a modular format known as "microlearning", with a total of eight modules lasting from 10 to 15 minutes covering key aspects of information security.

This training was developed as part of the Training of Civil Servants of the Republic of Serbia project, through the World Bank's Enabling Digital Governance Project. The project holder is the Office for Information Technologies and e-Government, in cooperation with the National Academy for Public Administration, and it is implemented by Ernst & Young, with the support of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications.

As part of the meeting, the organization of a webinar for public administration officials was discussed, on the topic "What you can do on your eGovernment profile", in order to further clarify all available services on the eGovernment Portal, and improve the capacities of public administration.

The meeting was attended by NAPA Assistant Director Mrs Snežana Antonijević, Head of the Training Programme Implementation Department Mrs Aleksandra Majkić, Head of the Records and IT Group Mr Siniša Barjaktarević, as well as Assistant Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment Mr Aleksandar Milinković, and Mrs Vanja Kukrika Vasojević, a personal data protection expert.