Žigman: Functional services demonstrate resilience to crisis

“In times of crisis, resilience is not measured by reports or indicators, but by whether the services that citizens and the economy rely on, on a daily basis, continue to function,” said Croatian National Bank (CNB) Governor Ante Žigman at the 2nd annual meeting of regulators on Monday.

“System resilience,” said Ante Žigman, “can increasingly be observed only within a single institution or regulatory area. Risks spill over between different systems almost instantly, and these systems are more interconnected than ever before - from finance and capital markets to communication networks, energy and the digital space.”

“In recent years,” he said, “we have seen how global disruptions such as geopolitical tensions, energy shocks, supply chain disruptions or disinformation campaigns can quickly spill over into markets, institutions and the everyday lives of citizens, and how we increasingly find ourselves in an environment in which different shocks occur simultaneously and mutually reinforce their effects.”

“Cyber risks are perhaps the most prominent example, but they are by no means the only reason why the regulator must have a broader picture. Sometimes, it only takes a few hours of disruption to the communications infrastructure, a serious operational disruption or a wave of disinformation for the consequences to quickly become visible far beyond the sector in which the problem arose,” he said.

Resilience today, as he said, increasingly means the ability to adapt.

“In times of crisis, resilience is not measured by reports or indicators, but by whether the services that citizens and the economy rely on, on a daily basis, continue to function,” Žigman pointed out.

He cited the example of a power outage in Spain, which led to cash suddenly becoming the only means of payment, and many found themselves unable to access basic necessities at that moment because the digital systems they were used to were not functioning.

“In crisis situations, citizens are not interested in where the responsibility of one institution ends and the responsibility of another begins, but whether they can make payments, access their money, use basic services and obtain reliable information,” Žigman said.

The President of the Council of the Croatian Regulatory Agency for Network Activities (Hakom), Tonko Obuljen, said that cyberattacks have long ceased to be just technical incidents, but can be an instrument of pressure, causing economic damage, manipulating information and ultimately undermining trust in institutions.

“Cyber risk,” as he said, “is becoming a question of the resilience of the entire society.”

“The financial sector, public administration, crisis management, media, emergency services, our entire daily life depends on networks being available, secure and resilient,” he said.

He believes that the regulatory response to potential incidents must be coordinated, noting that timely exchange of information and cooperation is important.

“Resilience is the ability to constantly adapt because threats change much faster than our regulatory cycles, technologies develop much faster than procedures, and attackers regularly use advanced technologies, today also artificial intelligence, as well as social engineering, to bypass classic defense mechanisms, very often targeting humans, individuals as the weak link in our systems,” he emphasized.

Šušnjar: Economic development requires clear rules

Economy Minister Ante Šušnjar said that the development of the Croatian economy requires clear rules, strong institutions and a regulatory system that can respond in a timely manner to the challenges posed by global instability, digital transformation and cybersecurity.

“The government and the Ministry of Economy,” he said, “are actively supporting progress through regulatory frameworks. We encourage the implementation of all modern technologies, technological innovations and artificial intelligence, and in this way it is necessary to develop both a legislative and a regulatory framework that will create clear prerequisites for a propulsive economy, so that all investors have a clear understanding of the market conditions in which they are investing,” he said.

When it comes to cybersecurity, he said that Croatia has a secure system and that the key to success is continuous improvement.

“We have a very secure system, but the daily education of our officials, citizens and the economy contributes to increasing the security of the system,” said Šušnjar.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Tomislav Ćorić emphasized the importance of regulators, noting that they are an indispensable part of the national security framework.

“The regulatory system,” as he stated, “must respond to cyber-attacks, geopolitical instability and disruptions, the rapid development of artificial intelligence, climate challenges, etc.”

He considers it good that a culture of observing regulatory systems as a single whole is beginning to develop in Croatia. “Cooperation among regulators, exchange of information and joint action are not only important for the sake of an efficient system but also for preserving the trust that citizens have in these institutions,” he said.

Deputy President of the Board of Directors of the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency Anamarija Staničić pointed out that they are much more dangerous than commercial attacks aimed at making money for attackers, attacks on public services, hospitals, critical infrastructure, the energy system where the attacker's goal is not profit but creating chaos. “Their goal is to prevent institutions from doing their job and providing services to citizens, and to make recovery from the attack take as long as possible or not even happen,” she said.

“The most important thing,” she said, “is to prepare for how resilient we are internally and how quickly we can recover data and ensure that attackers with the data cannot do too much damage.”

“For now, in Croatia and at the European Union level, the system shows a certain level of resilience,” she said.

Source: HRT