A budget of €8.5 million will be allocated to combat future cyberattacks, Deputy Minister of Research Nicodemos Damianou told the House audit committee on Thursday.

“For the first time, we have allocated a significant amount – €8.5 million – to strengthen cybersecurity mechanisms,” Damianou said, noting that years of underinvestment had left the public sector’s technical infrastructure particularly vulnerable to cyber threats.

Despite recent upgrades, he emphasised that security systems remained largely unaligned and that achieving full integration would take time. Among the current measures is a newly developed “cybersecurity manual” aimed at addressing these vulnerabilities.

Referring to the hacker attacks in October 2024, which targeted numerous companies and organisations, the deputy minister said that cyber defence mechanisms had been updated in eleven critical infrastructures. Furthermore, Damianou added that all government systems (servers) had been moved to appropriate locations following the flooding incident at the finance ministry in April 2023.

Damianou also highlighted the role of the Digital Security Authority (DSA) and the Commissioner of Communications in raising public awareness on cybersecurity.

Deputy Communications Commissioner Petros Galides said that over the past two years, the DSA’s costs for handling public sector cyberattacks had reached approximately €400,000, excluding infrastructure-related expenses.

While outdated technology had created “gaps in preparedness” between the public and private sectors, Cyprus had still made substantial progress, he said.

DSA Director Antonis Antoniadis, meanwhile, revealed that the authority was still awaiting approval of its 2025 budget, despite having submitted it on time. The delay could leave staff unpaid for March.

He added that DSA was struggling with slow staffing procedures for permanent positions and stressed the importance of specialised personnel. Currently, only 67 of the DSA’s 120 employees are permanent staff, with the rest working under service contracts.

Despite these challenges, Antoniadis concluded by saying that “very good work is being done in collaboration with other services” and that, in an EU-wide comparison, Cyprus ranked above average in cybersecurity preparedness.