Members of the Lower House of the Kazakh Parliament propose to increase the IT budget. The MPs expressed their concern about the recent increase in cyber attacks on Kazakh information systems. According to Mazhilis Member Yekaterina Smyshlyayeva, the funds allocated for the country's information security make up 1 percent of the total spending in the industry. Besides that, the sector is seeing staff shortages. According to preliminary estimates, the industry needs around 10,000 specialists.
“It is necessary to increase the share of information security expenses in the overall cost structure for the digital transformation and development of the IT sector and bring it up to 10 percent. Also, it is necessary to increase the volume and number of information security specializations for all the IT professionals and a number of engineering specialties. We believe that it is necessary to strengthen the institution of state control in the field of information security, and pay attention to the research work in this field. As part of the state information policy, it is necessary to carry out explanatory work on digital literacy and cyber hygiene,” said Smyshlyayeva.
