{"id":1687,"date":"2025-02-04T13:14:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T05:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.iss.gov.mn\/?p=1687"},"modified":"2025-02-18T07:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T23:30:11","slug":"why-mongolia-needs-cybersecurity-literacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.iss.gov.mn\/?p=1687","title":{"rendered":"Why Mongolia Needs Cybersecurity Literacy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By<\/em> <\/strong>Baasankhuu Sumiya<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days ago, at midnight, I walked 10 kilometers to get home. Public transportation had stopped, but I couldn\u2019t get a taxi because I didn\u2019t have any cash and always use banking applications on my phone. My most reliable smartphone was dead. These days, most Mongolians don\u2019t carry cash because we are heavily on our smartphones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like me, many Mongolians are so proud of going digital but pay a little attention to cybersecurity literacy \u2013 many even don\u2019t hear the term. And, we can scale up to our national security \u2013 the state is vulnerable to cyberattacks and cybercrimes. Besides the government\u2019s strategic vision of a \u2018Digital Nation\u2019 and passing a number of laws, we need to educate our public from the age when they started being exposed to the digital world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becoming a Digital Nation<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Mongolia had announced a vision for Mongolia to become a \u201cDigital Nation.\u201d As part of this vision the Government of Mongolia approved the ICT Sector Medium-Term Development Policy<\/em> to be implemented in 2022-2027, and established the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications (later renamed to the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Communications) to oversee the policy  implementation. With 84% of the 3.47 million population connected to the internet, and 5.13 million devices online, our society now relies heavily on digital platforms[1]<\/a>. From paying bills to accessing government services via E-Mongolia, a digital one-stop shop for government services. This shift has saved the ordinary citizen a lot of time, money, and paperwork, not to mention the stress and discontent resulting from having to go through long lines and angry crowds at any given public office. Moreover, digital transformation has improved government efficiency by cutting red tapes and streamlining various functional processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital transformation of Mongolia is progressing rapidly. However, while it has accelerated transactions, saved time and money, it has not been without difficulties. Mongolia faces challenges especially when it comes to cybersecurity. In 2024, there were 1.6 million cyber-attacks and incidents, 13061 cybercrimes, and cost about 25.4 million USD counted in Mongolia. And these are just the cases that we are aware of. Many more cyberattacks and cybercrimes likely go unnoticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Establishing a Legal Framework<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, to address this vulnerability in cybersecurity and the overall digital development the State Great Khural, Mongolia\u2019s legislature, passed the Law on Cybersecurity<\/em>, which establishes the legal framework for cybersecurity governance, protection, and response in 2021. A year later, in 2022, a round of measures related to cybersecurity were taken including, the approval of the National Cybersecurity Strategy<\/em>, which outlines key priorities for strengthening the country’s cybersecurity posture, with establishment of the Cybersecurity Council, Cyber Crime Police Department under The National Policy Agency, National Computer Security Incident Response Team (NCSIRT, or National CERT),  Public Computer Security Incident Response Team (Public CSIRT\/CC), and the Armed Forces Cybersecurity Center (AFCC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these efforts to strengthen cybersecurity and fight cybercrime appeared to bear fruits. For instance, In the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2024, published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Mongolia achieved a score of 56.36, placing it in Tier 3, labeled as “Establishing.” This reflects a significant improvement from the 2020 edition, where Mongolia scored 26.20 and ranked 120th out of 194 countries, which means the country advanced 17 places to 103rd position[2]<\/a>. But these efforts alone couldn\u2019t prevent all cyberattacks and crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyberattacks and Crime on the Rise<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cyberattack and cybercrime statistics continuously  increasing, government websites are under constant cyberattack, and there have been several high-profile cases of government website and social media handle hacks. Just to mention a couple of breach examples,<\/p>\n\n\n\n