MINSK, 31 January (BelTA) – New approaches to ensuring information security of the state have been discussed at a government session held by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on 31 January, BelTA informs.
“I would like to discussed a number of issues concerning, first of all, the information security of our state. We have plenty of work here. I cannot say that we have much success in this field. This issue is very serious,” the head of state said.
He remarked that a corresponding issue was raised during the telephone conversation with Russia President Vladimir Putin which took place just before the session. “As far as the coming meeting is concerned, we decided to discuss this issue in the context of our bilateral relations where we can work together,” the Belarusian leader said.
According to Alexander Lukashenko, information security is a very serious aspect of the country's security in general. “I should say that today (and you know it better than anybody else) it has come to the forefront in the operation of any state. To put it bluntly (God forbid, of course), any cold and especially hot war never starts without information pressure and confrontation. Therefore, in a more large-scale and serious dimension we will analyze this issue at the nearest session of the Security Council of Belarus. This is number one issue on our agenda,” the head of state said.
“We do not need to propagate anything. But it is important to fight for our principles, improve the image of our country. And we must be able to counter, especially in mass media, certain attacks against Belarus (and they emerge from different sides from time to time). We must sort it out. Information security in the context of mass media, especially the Internet, is the main issue,” Alexander Lukashenko noted.
He stressed that the main topic is efficiency. “There is low efficiency right now, especially with regard to measures against various channels, pages and Internet sites. You see what it going on today. We do not take enough countermeasures. We have more than enough specialists and experts. However, we did not have a corresponding organization. We must know how to do it,” the president said.
In his words, it is also essential to set up an organization to evaluate mass media ratings. “But this organization should be trusted by people and, first of all, by mass media that are subject to evaluation,” Alexander Lukashenko said.
The participants of the meeting also discussed Belarus' advertising market. “We must do something to protect it if necessary. So, we must determine what to do, in what context we will develop adverting is mass media to make sure that this money stays, first of all, in the country, in our leading mass media,” the Belarusian leader said.
The government session was attended by representatives of the Belarus President Administration, heads of mass media outlets, experts.
After the meeting Doctor of Judicial Sciences Oleg Makarov, the head of the information and analytical department of the State Secretariat of the Security Council of Belarus, said that the meeting focused on the efficiency of the information and analytical work, including information security issues.
According to the expert, the information space in the modern world becomes denser, there is confrontation at the level of senses. “Of course, in these conditions we should build our own security systems to protect the state and citizens from the impact of destructive and false information at all levels, be it the level of the state, personality, various age groups. In this regard the major issue is the analysis of information flows, the information field. Therefore, it is essential to set up or structure institutes which can reveal and counteract such threats,” Oleg Makarov said.
First of all, it is necessary to reveal and realize the danger of certain information flows and injections. “For this purpose it is important to consolidate experts. At the today's session the head of state made a decision to set up a special structure for research and analysis. It could embark on this work, which is to reveal and monitor information flows, risks, those points of tension which we must respond to and take into consideration in the formation of the state policy. We should interpret these issues to realize what is going on in the external and internal space,” the expert remarked.
