Cybercor - on the official launch and strengthening the country's cyber security 

CyberCon Moldova Conference

The conference gathered more than 200 participants: students, cyber security experts and representatives of major IT companies. The event was packed with speeches, masterclasses and discussions on topical cyber defense topics.

The conference could be monitored online.

Who were the speakers at the conference?

• Victoria Molcean, Deputy CEO of sigURL, noted the great interest of the students of the Technical University of Moldova in the launch of Cybercor.
• Experts from Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto and F5 shared their expertise and experience in cybersecurity.
• Dumitru Alaiba, Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization, spoke about the government's measures to strengthen cyber security in Moldova.
• Viorel Bostan, Rector of the Technical University of Moldova, shared the mission and objectives of Cybercor.

Conference topics and activities

Participants discussed:

• Using artificial intelligence to strengthen cyber defenses.
• The role of private companies in reducing the shortage of cybersecurity professionals.
• The impact of the shortage of experts on the public and private sectors.
• The need to adapt educational programs to industry requirements.

There were discussion panels with representatives from Google Romania, Kernelios, Cybercor and other organizations.

A Capture the Flag competition was organized for the students. The teams defended virtual infrastructure against real-time attacks. This helped them demonstrate their skills and learn how to respond quickly to cyber threats.

Also, Israeli expert Uri, known for speaking at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, gave a master class on reverse-engineering malware. Together with students, he created an exploit to simulate a real attack. The students were thrilled with the experience!

Engaging hackers

The experience of other countries has shown that it is necessary to involve the hacker community to strengthen the cyber defense of a country's information systems. Now Moldova has become part of this process. Bug Bounty - one of the most effective tools for improving cybersecurity.

What is Cybercor and why was it created?

Cybercor is a national institute for cyber security innovation. It was created to strengthen the country's defenses against cyber threats and train a new generation of experts. Cybercor will train experts, raise awareness of cyber risks and help organizations defend themselves against attacks.

Who was involved in the creation of Cybercor?

The project is realized with the assistance of:

• Teams of experts from sigURL.
• Moldovan IT companies: SOC.MD, XDATA-CLOUD, IT-Lab, Mivocloud.
• Israeli partners from Kernelios.

Cybercor has received support from Chemonics International and funding from the US.

Cybercor's plans for the future

• Launch of educational courses for staff development in the public and private sectors.
• Raising public awareness of cyber threats.
• Reducing the risks and damage from cyberattacks in the long term.
• Engaging the international hacker community through the Bug Bounty program on the site bb.soc.md to identify and remediate vulnerabilities.

Conclusion

The opening of Cybercor and the CyberCon Moldova conference are important steps in strengthening Moldova's cyber security. It will help train new specialists, protect information systems and make the country's digital space more secure.