The event, promoted by the National Cybersecurity Centre (CNCS) in partnership with the Intermunicipal Community of Alto Alentejo (CIMAA) and the Municipality of Elvas, took place on October 13th. The President of the CIMAA Intermunicipal Council, Joaquim Diogo, highlighted cybersecurity as a crucial issue for governance and citizen trust in institutions.
Joaquim Diogo pointed out the challenges faced by municipalities with limited technical teams, presenting cooperation among the 15 municipalities of Alto Alentejo as a solution to increase scale and response capacity. He mentioned the work developed through the communication infrastructure, the Intermunicipal Data Centre, and the sharing of technological services and solutions.
Since 2021, CIMAA and the involved municipalities have adopted a coordinated approach to cybersecurity. This initiative is now reinforced with an intermunicipal governance model aimed at clarifying responsibilities, coordination procedures, and consolidating the capacity for incident prevention, detection, and response.
Priorities addressed in the intervention included the training of technicians and decision-makers, strengthening system recovery mechanisms, and integrating security into digital transformation, with the goal of improving entities' preparedness and ensuring the continuity of services to the public.
The Forum explored the cybersecurity landscape in Local Administration, minimum protection measures, the Maturity Seal, and the legal framework, with sessions dedicated to political leaders and technical teams. The security of urban management platforms and the MONARC risk management tool were also discussed, sharing lessons learned from incidents in municipalities.
The holding of this meeting in Alto Alentejo underscored the importance of knowledge sharing and building trusting relationships among entities, essential elements for a coordinated response to cybersecurity challenges in Local Administration.
