Our story
The Institute of Cybersecurity – operating at Ludovika – University of Public Service – has been active in the past couple of years although some structural changes have taken place in recent years. The research background on cybersecurity was previously provided by the Cybersecurity Ludovika Workshop – submitted in the framework of the KÖFOP-2.1.2 „Public Service Development Establishing Good Governance” grant– that has contributed to increasing the information security of the Hungarian state, the public service, and the public administration. The aim during the research period was to provide the theoretical and practical basis for the information security training (bachelor, master and doctoral courses and postgraduate trainings for professionals) required for the public service based on our scientific research.
On this basis, the aim of the Cybersecurity Ludovika Workshop was to eliminate fragmentation of the university's faculties and institutes with the research and their results, improving their effectiveness through coordination, close internal cooperation, and systematic validation of application indicators. Through research and development with domestic and international partners, it aimed to catalyze the university's existing research potential (in cyberspace) and their extensive and intensive development.
The Workshop's program had two main parts:
- cybersecurity research (international and domestic R&D);
- based on the results of our research, development of training contents of international and domestic cybersecurity training.
The Workshop was carried out in six research fields between February 2017 and December 2018:
- research on security awareness of different parties;
- modern technology’s impact on society in urbanized spaces;
- social media opportunities and security risks;
- organizational and management challenges in cyberspace;
- cyberstrategic research;
- cybercrime/IT Forensics.
Through a structural change, the University's Cybersecurity Academy has extended the Workshop. The reason behind this change in structure was that the University's management had concluded that cybersecurity is a horizontal field that requires professional coordination between education and research actors. Therefore, on 1 March 2017, the Cybersecurity Academy was established to implement this coordinating activity: it integrated and organized synergies between University faculties and institutes, cybersecurity work in research workshops, and increased their effectiveness and efficiency by organizing training and research programs. Its professional events and publications aimed at international and domestic target groups that:
- build on synergies between training and research resources at the University;
- respond flexibly and quickly to government development needs;
- effectively integrate the University’s IT resources for a common purpose;
- enforce the 'comprehensive approach' on different fields of public service such as law enforcement, military, public administration
- develop in line with state-of-the-art IT technology.
The latest structural change has taken place on 1 September 2019, when the Institute of Cybersecurity of the Eötvös József Research Centre (replacing the Academy and handing over the Workshop) started its operation. The aim of the Institute is to build on synergies of university research on cybersecurity, in particular by coordinating information security, cybercrime, cyberwarfare and cyberdefense, as well as related information technology research, support the University’s cybersecurity related education and coordinate relevant higher education, governmental and international research relations in this field.