RedCLARA's participation in the EU-LAC Digital Alliance High Level Policy Dialogue on Cybersecurity, which took place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from February 14 to 16, featured outstanding panel discussions.
The event was attended by more than 150 high-level government representatives from Latin America and the Caribbean, the European Union and its Member States, as well as civil society, academia and the private sector, with the aim of sharing knowledge and experiences on cybersecurity in order to reach consensus on joint initiatives and establish a preliminary work plan towards the EU-CELAC Summit to be held in 2025. On behalf of RedCLARA, a delegation composed of the Manager of Communications, Public Relations and International Cooperation, María José Lopez; the Manager of Liaison with RNIEs, Cecilia Ortiz; and the Services Manager, Carlos Gonzalez attended the Dialogue.González was one of the experts who participated in the panel "Building Cybersecurity Workforce in the LAC Region" on Wednesday 14, which discussed the gaps in the cybersecurity sector and strategies to develop skills and competencies to meet the needs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In his participation, the manager highlighted the work of the Cybersecurity Group of the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), members of RedCLARA, in contributing to the challenge of closing the skills and competencies gaps in the sector. "In addition to the shortage of specific skills- it is said that there may be a shortage of 400 to 700 thousand information security professionals in the region - I believe there is a shortage of awareness of what information security is. In the RNIEs of the region, we are working to address this issue through cybersecurity groups that work together to achieve results. Our efforts are focused on integrating academia into decision-making and replicating best practices across the region," he explained.
One of the initiatives developed by the Cybersecurity Group is the "Regional Cybersecurity Survey", which González said allows us to take "snapshots" or have continuous pictures of the state of cybersecurity in the region's academic sector each year. "From the results, we identify initiatives and, adapting them to our needs and realities, we apply them to the region through vehicles such as BELLA II."
RedCLARA also participated in the panel "Articulation of Cybersecurity, Connectivity, E-Governance, Data Protection and Artificial Intelligence" which aimed to articulate the results of the High Level Policy Dialogue on Cybersecurity with the different components of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance and the eLAC process. During the session, María José López highlighted the role of RedCLARA and the BELLA II Project as enablers of the digital dransformation processes.
The efforts of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance on the issue of Cybersecurity come at a time when the number of cyber-attacks on critical infrastructures in Latin America and the Caribbean has increased exponentially. Therefore, strengthening such infrastructures is essential to ensure the reliability and sustainability of services and data. The bi-regional dialogue provided a platform for governments, as well as other relevant stakeholders, to explore ways to strengthen national and regional cybersecurity ecosystems.
For further information, please visit https://d4dhub.eu/es/news/europe-and-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-step-up-cooperation-on-cybersecurity
