“Countering the threats that appear in cyberspace requires up-to-date, high quality training. The Hungarian Defence Force’s Cyber Training Centre will provide this training to soldiers”, it was stated on 13 June in Szentendre at the official inauguration of the institution.

A presentation by the cyber academy was held in Szentendre on Thursday morning with the participation of Minister of Defence Tibor Benkő, State Secretary for Public Administration Pál Kádár, State Secretary for Human Relations Lajos Erdélyi, Commander of the Hungarian Defence Force Lieutenant-General Ference Korom and his deputy, Lieutenant-General Gábor Böröndi, as well as other leaders of the military.

In his opening speech, Tibor Benkő told those present: The Hungarian Defence Force must become an effective and strong army that conforms to the quality requirements of the age, and the region’s determining military force. One of the determining elements of this process is the establishment of the academy, in view of the fact there is also a need for suitably trained soldiers. As he pointed out, the public has become aware of the concept of hybrid warfare as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and there has already been much said about operational activities that go on in cyberspace. In accordance with the decision made at the NATO summit in Warsaw, in addition to the land, air and sea theatres of war, the alliance has also taken on the concept of cyberspace: cyber operations have been included in operational procedures.

As the Minister of Defence explained, through hybrid warfare, the deceptive pieces of information, disruptive factors and blocking systems applied within cyberspace not only effect the realisation of operational tasks, but in peacetime also affect the functioning of the state. The reason for this is that these days everything from medical treatment to keeping records of data occurs in electronic form via computers. We must prepare to defend against these threats, and this requires a suitable education and training system.

Mr. Benkő pointed out that soldiers must be capable of performing the tasks that arise within cyberspace in an outstanding manner, using the positive side to the maximum extent, and while taking effective action against activities of a negative nature. This requires regular training in view of the fact that new challenges appear literally every day within this field. The Minister of Defence underlined that the hardware and software elements available at the cyber academy all assure a suitable level of training. International military and civil training courses are both long-term goals, Mr. Benkő added.

Following the official opening, Brigadier General László Kovács, the Hungarian Defence Force’s cyber defence observer held an informative lecture on the academy’s structure and duties, and on its role within the Hungarian Defence Force. The Brigadier General’s book on Cyber Security and Strategy was also presented at the event. The cyber defence observer took the participants on a tour of the academy and presented the institution’s infrastructure, after which those present had the opportunity to view demonstrations of cyber security incidents both under laboratory conditions and outside.

(honvedelem.hu)