Cyber Centre works with the World Bank in Kosovo

A report released on 25 June marks a key stage in a new partnership between the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre and the World Bank to help countries assess and strengthen their cybersecurity capabilities.

The report, published in Kosovo, sets out the results and recommendations from the Centre's assessement in Pristina earlier this year. The Centre also visited Armenia, Bhutan and Montenegro alongside the World Bank.

The World Bank facilitated a launch event and workshop in Pristina on 25 June, in co-operation with the Centre and the Ministry of Economic Development of Kosovo. The event, 'Cyber Security in Kosovo: Dialogue on Strategic Priorities', convened government, private sector and civil society stakeholders to launch the report and discuss its findings. Read the full press release here.

“The increased reliance on the Internet as a source of information and an instrument of management creates immense opportunities but also entails new risks,” said Mr Jan-Peter Olters, World Bank Country Manager for Kosovo. “With the continued and deepened focus on matters of cyber security—households, firms, and governments can take full advantage of accessing information, strengthening management and oversight, growing commerce, and improving communication, while being protected, to the extent possible, from cyber threats.”

"This has been the first assessment of cybersecurity capacity in the Western Balkans using our new research," said Professor Sadie Creese, Director of the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre at the University of Oxford. "We are delighted to have been able to work closely with the Government of Kosovo to use our new model to help shape a more comprehensive approach to cybersecurity. It has also been vital in developing our co-operation with the World Bank, with a shared aim of increasing the effectiveness of cybersecurity across the world".

Mr Agim Kukaj, Head of Post, Telecommunications, Information and Communication Technology Department of the Ministry of Economic Development of Kosovo, and lead government counterpart for the assessment and workshop, said: "The assessment showed a realistic view of cyber security capacity strengths and weaknesses of different categories of Kosovo stakeholders, and in the process generated a considerable amount of interest, especially on the level of interagency co-operation in the public sector. It would be a lost opportunity for the government not to build on this assessment further by bridging various interests and leveraging synergies."

About the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre

  • The Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC) is a leading international centre for research on efficient and effective cybersecurity capacity-building, promoting an increase in the scale, pace, quality and impact of cybersecurity capacity-building initiatives across the world.
  • It has created a first-of-its-kind model to measure cybersecurity capacity maturity, which aims to enable nations to self-assess, benchmark, better plan investments and national cybersecurity strategies, and set priorities for capacity development.
  • Working with key stakeholders from across the international community, the GCSCC has begun to successfully apply the model globally, undertaking consultations alongside partners such as the World Bank, the Organization of American States and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation. The application is in itself an effective capacity-building exercise for those countries that host our research, informing the thinking of those tasked with cybersecurity.
  • The GCSCC is encouraging uptake of the model by other countries and international community actors, irrespective of mandate, to allow those working in this space to have a more comprehensive picture of cybersecurity in the countries they are working in, to improve planning, avoid duplication and enable better-strategised capacity building investments.