STISC will add a deputy director. Vasile Tofan: “We face daily attacks on our information systems”
The Information Technology and Cyber Security Service (STISC), which manages government-related cyber incidents, will expand its team by adding a second deputy director. This new position will entail annual salary costs exceeding 770,000 lei. Prime Minister Vasile Tofan explained the change, citing the need to strengthen the response to cyberattacks targeting the Republic of Moldova's information systems.
Attacks on government systems occur daily, encompassing both attempts to disrupt online services and efforts to gain unauthorized access, the Prime Minister warned during the Government meeting on October 21.
"We face attacks on our information systems virtually every day, and naturally, STISC plays a key role in our protection. We deal with daily DDoS attacks—essentially brute-force attempts to breach our systems," stated Vasile Tofan.
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks aim to overwhelm a website or online service with an excessive volume of requests, rendering it inaccessible. Meanwhile, brute-force attacks involve repeated attempts to identify passwords or other authentication credentials to gain unauthorized access to systems.
Currently, STISC has only one deputy director, even though the institution's responsibilities have grown increasingly complex. According to the proposal's explanatory memorandum, the current structure hinders coordination across subdivisions and project execution; therefore, the Government has approved creating a second deputy director position.
"As its competencies and responsibilities become ever more extensive and complex, we are introducing this measure to allow the institution to establish a second deputy director position, ensuring that assigned tasks can be completed on time," said the Secretary-General of the Government, Alexei Buzu.
The new deputy director's monthly base salary will be 37,800 lei. To this, a bonus for managerial efficiency of up to 30% and a bonus for productivity and efficiency of 40% of the base salary may be added. In total, the annual salary expenditure for the new position is estimated at 771,120 lei. An additional 42,000 lei is allocated for procuring necessary equipment and furniture.
STISC will cover the new deputy director’s remuneration from its own revenues, generated by providing commercial services, without any additional allocations from the state budget.
