Technology
EU twinning agreement in information security
By
Dec 27, 2007 - 7:57:17 AM

In June 2005 Malta, as a Beneficiary Country, signed a Twinning Agreement entitled Capacity Building Programme in Information Security with the United Kingdom, as a European Union Member State for a period of 28 months.

The project implementation was entrusted to Malta Information Technology and Training Services Ltd (MITTS Ltd) as the Government’s designated INFOSEC Authority under the direction and guidance from the Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology (MIIIT). The UK Twinning Partner was entrusted to Northern Ireland Public Sector Enterprises (NI-CO) in conjunction with QinetiQ Ltd which is an international defence and security company that develops cutting edge technology for the UK's Armed Forces and provides technological advice and services to the UK Ministry of Defence , other UK government departments, the US Department of Defense, and non-government customers. The agreement has been mainly financed by the European Union.

Twinning Agreements are one of the principal tools of ‘ Institution Building’ assistance. These agreements aim to help Beneficiary Countries in the development of effective and efficient administrations, with the structures, human resources and management skills needed to implement the EU Acquis Communautaire. They provide the framework for administrations and Public Sector organisations in the Beneficiary Countries to work with their counterparts within the EU. Together they develop and implement a targeted project aimed at supporting the transposition, enforcement and implementation of a specific part of the Acquis.

The primary objective of the EU Twinning Agreement was to build capacity with regards to Council of European Union requirements relating to information security and the protection of classified information within Member State public administrations.

The purpose of this Twinning Agreement was to increase the understanding and facilitate the implementation of the EU Council Security Regulations 2001/264/EC issued on the 19^th of March 2001 and to support Information Security measures in the Government of Malta Public Service to enable adherence to these regulations, which is a compulsory condition for all the Member States and thus of the Acquis Communautaire. In this light the project saw to the basic, advanced and specialised training of officials in the Public Service, government agencies and entities in particular areas related to Network Security, Wireless Security and Digital Forensics. It also saw the provision of a half-a-day seminar on security awareness to IT service providers and Government procurement personnel.

Throughout the duration of the Twinning Agreement a Resident Twinning Advisor (RTA) was posted locally to provide his expertise, assistance and support to his Maltese counterparts. Several visits to Malta by Short-Term Experts (STEs) were also conducted to complement the expertise of the RTA in particular subject matter areas. Study visits were organised for Maltese personnel to travel to various European countries to view operational security processes in practice with the aim of sharing good practices and acquire knowledge from other EU Member States.

The Twinning Agreement came to an end in October 2007.

Malta Information Technology and Training Services Ltd is the in-house ICT agency for the Government of Malta providing ICT services and professional project management and consulting services.