12
The Malta Independent | Thursday 30 July 2015
Nearly 750 apply for Student Placement Programme 2015 The ICT Feature talks to Jacquie Cremona Crossey, an Executive with the Digital Outreach team at MITA, about the 2015 Student Placement Programme. MITA received close to 750 applications for the 2015 Student Placement Programme (SPP). Out of them, 692 were eligible applicants, with over 350 of them being placed within the ICTusing industries (at the time of publishing) for this summer. The Student Placement Programme has been running successfully for the past seven years and has now become an eagerly anticipated yearly event which is fully run by MITA to provide temporary job placements during the summer months within the private sector, public service, public sector and voluntary organisations. The temporary recruitment of students for the summer months has proven to be a cost effective way of injecting additional manpower to the workforce. To be eligible, participants must be students studying ICT and related subjects at MQF level 4 or above. Effectively, this translates in organisations gaining a fresh input of innovative and, creative
Educational institution MCAST University of Malta Sixth formers Private Training Providers
Eligible students 320 198 94 80
Percentage 46% 29% 14% 11%
centage of students who participated were as indicated in the below table and from the following educational institutions. This year, 65% of the placements were within Government, another 30% with the private industry and 5% with non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The chosen students are expected to work for a maximum of 11 weeks, with a maximum total of 330 reimbursable hours per placement. Government co-sponsors 50% of the salary for students tem-
porarily employed in the private sector, and 100% of the salary for students temporarily employed in the public sector and NGOs. The success of the Student Placement Programme is based on a simple mechanism which suites both the employers and most importantly the students,
who are eager to gain hands on experience. Such initiatives contribute positively to Malta’s economy but most of all they offer an opportunity in different sectors to future generations. More information on www.mita.gov.mt/spp
Cybersecurity challenges T
he majority of IT executives (86%) within critical infrastructure organisations see a need for public-private threat intelligence sharing partnerships to keep pace with escalating cybersecurity threats, according to a survey released by the Aspen Institute and Intel Security. 76% of respondents also indicated they believe a national defence force should respond when a cyber attack damages a critical infrastructure company within national borders. Additionally, although most respondents agree that threats to their organisations are on the rise, they maintain a high degree of confidence in existing security. The survey, ‘Holding the Line Against Cyber Threats: Critical Infrastructure Readiness Survey’, reveals that the critical infrastructure providers surveyed are pleased with the results of their efforts to improve cybersecurity over the last three years, but at the same time many (72%) said
Roderick Spiteri
Roderick Spiteri is Marketing and Communications Manager at MITA and editor of Malta Independent ICT feature ideas and approaches to the office environment. Students on the other hand are eager to apply the theory and methodologies which they have learnt in the classroom into practice and, at the same time allowing employers to spot and mould the rising stars of tomorrow’s workforce. Students taking part in the SPP programme come from different educational entities, these being, MCAST, University of Malta, sixth formers and private training providers. The amount and per-
that the threat level of attacks was escalating. Almost half of all respondents (48%) believe it is likely that a cyberattack on critical infrastructure, with the potential to result in the loss of human life, could happen within the next three years. “This data raises new and vital questions about how public and private interests can best join forces to mitigate and defend against cyberattacks,” said Clark Kent Ervin, Director, Homeland Security Program, Aspen Institute. “This issue must be addressed by policymakers and corporate leaders alike.” Survey results suggest there may be a gap between critical infrastructure providers and the current threat landscape: Perceived improvements Respondents believe their own vulnerability to cyberattacks has decreased over the last three years. When asked to evaluate their security posture in retrospect, 50% reported that they would have considered their or-
ganisations “very or extremely” vulnerable three years ago; by comparison, only 27% believe that their organizations are currently “very or extremely” vulnerable. Government involvement encouraged Private industry is often hesitant when it comes to government’s involvement in private sector business; however, 86% of respondents believe that cooperation between the public and private sectors on infrastructure protection is critical to successful cyber defence. Furthermore, 68% of respondents believe their own government can be a valuable and respectful partner in cybersecurity. Confidence in current solutions 64% believe an attack resulting in fatalities has not happened yet because good IT security is already in place. Correspondingly, more than four in five are satisfied or extremely satisfied with the performance of their own security tools such as endpoint protection (84%), network firewalls (84%), and secure web gateways (85%). Disruptions increasing More than 70% of respondents think the cybersecurity threat level in their organisation is escalating. Around nine in ten (89%) respondents experienced at least one attack on a system within their organisation, which they deemed secure, over the past three years, with a median of close to 20 attacks per year. 59% of respondents stated that at least one of these attacks resulted in
physical damage. Loss of life? 48% of respondents believe it is likely that a cyberattack that will take down critical infrastructure with potential loss of life will occur within the next three years, although there were no additional survey questions to determine the circumstances under which respondents believed the loss of life could occur. More US respondents thought this scenario was “extremely likely” to occur than did their European counterparts. User error still #1 issue Respondents believe user error is the greatest cause of successful attacks on critical infrastructure. Organisations may strengthen their security postures, but individual employees can still fall victim to phishing emails, social
engineering and drive-by browser downloads that successfully infect their organisations’ networks. Government response 67% of respondents believe a national defence force should respond when a cyberattack damages a critical infrastructure company within national borders. Different country perspectives US respondents believe the likelihood of a catastrophic cyberattack on critical infrastructure that could result in loss of life is more certain than do their European counterparts. While 18% of US sources consider this scenario “extremely likely” to occur in the next three years, only 2% in Germany and 3% in the UK think it extremely likely.
13
The Malta Independent | Thursday 30 July 2015
The Malta Independent ICT Feature MITA has recently conducted a market research on the citizens’ opinion of public services online with the aim of increasing the use of these services. The results show that citizens are eager to learn more about these services and thus MITA has proposed a set of policy guidelines to better
guide the development and provision of these e-services. One of the much awaited initiatives by MITA is the annual Student Placement Programme which offers ICT students the opportunity to gain employment during the summer months in a related area accord-
ing to their studies. A recent study shows that the majority of organisations believe that public-private partnerships are required to keep pace with escalating cyber security threats. The study also highlights a few gaps between critical infrastructure provides and the current
threat landscape. All ICT Features are available on www.mita.gov.mt/ictfeature
Strengthening competences to service the public efficiently through eGovernment
T
he ESF-funded project Public Services Online came to an end with a closing seminar addressing citizens, public officials and businesses. During the seminar, addressed by Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar, Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth José Herrera and MITA’s Executive Chairman Tony Sultana, achieved results and policy guidelines were presented to guide Government in the development of future eGovernment services thus ensuring that eServices are made easy, efficient and convenient. The results of the research study on the public’s opinion on the use of public services online shows
that the majority of respondents (56%) make use of traditional government services while 28% make exclusive use of eGovernment services. 81% of the public are interested to learn more about public services offered online and 63% actually think that there should be more awareness campaigns. The research also showed that the majority (88%) would like to see Government services offered from within their community. Moreover, the vast majority (92%) agreed that they would like to have the ability to get assistance via telephone or by online chat whilst using e-services. 63% of the public said that they posses an eID and 39% only use it to access e-services. Encouragingly, 79% said that trust Government
in their transactions. Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar said that whilst strengthening the use of public services online, this administration is also strengthening its outreach in the community. The launch of the regional one-stopshops in the coming months, in collaboration with the private sector, will further enhance Government services especially amongst citizens who are not computer literate or who prefer face-to-face communication. On the other hand, public services online need to be made more accessible, said Mr Cutajar. He stated that it is futile embarking on educational campaigns if online services are still difficult to access. Even Hon José Herrera, Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth said that when we are developing a new service, we have to take the end-user into account. We need to develop a service which is simple enough to make citizens and businesses prefer to use the online service instead of the traditional form. Hon Herrera added that public officials should be given the necessary training on the use of eGovernment services and should also be made aware of any new e-services. “We want these people to appreciate the benefits that technology can bring to their work and thus direct people to the respective online services.” MITA’s Executive Chairman, Mr Tony Sultana, said that we now need to adopt a set of principles to better guide the development and provision of these e-services. These principles will instigate a culture to positively discriminate the use of online services over traditional over-thecounter delivery, and to involve the end-users in the further development of highly relevant public services. The availability of online public services will also move towards clustered and connected services around life events so as to be more conveniently accessible and improve the take-up. This project was the first of its kind in Malta, synergising resources and Ministries in the bid
to increase the use of eGovernment services. Feedback on the awareness campaign conducted by MITA and the stakeholders through national media indicates that there should be continuous effort in this regard. MITA will be
providing central Government with recommendations on future actions that will further support the use of online services. For more information visit www.gov.mt