Porto, June 14, 2021 (Lusa) – Complaints filed with the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) related to cybercrime in 2020 increased 182% compared to 2019, said today the Minister of State and Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva.

“Last year [2020], in Portugal, complaints filed with the Attorney General’s Office, related to cybercrime increased by 182%”, declared Mariana Vieira da Silva, at the opening session of “C Days – Cybersecurity 2021”, that event that takes place between today and next Wednesday, the 16th, at Alfândega do Porto.

The minister, who was not present at the opening session, but sent her presentation via digital, added that “reports of cyber attacks directed at essential services such as health communities that paralyze the provision of public services and cause considerable disturbances in the functioning of societies”.

The government official argued that the development of skills in cybersecurity should be in the “focus of action by public entities”, but also in “private sector organizations”, and recalled that Portugal has “difficulty in training and retaining highly specialized professionals with advanced skills in cybersecurity”.

“The strategy execution reports also highlight the difficulty in training and retaining highly specialized professionals with advanced skills in cybersecurity, as well as the need for greater use of structural funds and other financing instruments to promote digital resilience and transformation for Small and Medium Enterprises”.

Although Portugal has a national cyberspace security strategy that enshrines “several lines of action for training and awareness in cybersecurity”, Mariana Vieira da Silva referred that it is “a work that needs to be “deepened”.