The Finnish Government has issued a decree on the support for the development of information security, i.e. the so-called information security voucher, which will come into force on 1st December 2022. This new, fixed-term support can be used by firms, including those based in Oulu, to improve the information security of their systems and to develop their own expertise in this field.
As the issue of cyber security becomes increasingly important, the general level of cyber security preparedness will need to be raised considerably, especially in certain sectors that are critical to the functioning of society. Two categories of vouchers will be directed towards companies that operate in those sectors. These categories are:
- Voucher up to 15,000 euros per company – to be used by businesses for the auditing and evaluation of their information systems, for the training of personnel, or for competence development, for example.
- Voucher up to 100,000 euros per company – intended for threat modelling and testing of cyber attack prevention as well as for immediate measures to improve information security. This voucher would cover 70% of the costs of an information security project, leaving businesses to fund the remaining 30%.
This initiative will be funded as part of a investment totaling 6 million euros into the administrative branch of the Ministry of Transport and Communications for the development of information security for Finnish businesses. This was approved in the second supplementary budget of 2022.
Timo Harakka, Minister of Transport and Communications said: “Cyber security of businesses plays a decisive role in the comprehensive security of society. The information security voucher is a new, important tool for businesses of all sizes. Again we are setting an example to other EU Member States.”
Companies can apply for a business security voucher from the National Cyber Security Centre of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency from 1st December 2022.