Information security

The Ministry of Finance has overall responsibility for steering and developing Government information security in Finland.

The Government Resolution on Enhancing Information Security in Central Government sets out guidelines for the development of information security as a key element of leadership, competence, risk management and administrative reforms and activities. The core concept in information security in central government is that each organisation is responsible for information security in their own field and for compliance with the statutory information security obligations. Furthermore, the organisations are expected to foster information security as specified in the Government Resolution and to implement the VAHTI information security guidelines and other policy guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance.

The Government Information Security Management Board VAHTI

The Ministry of Finance has set up the Government Information Security Management Board VAHTI to deal with matters related to cooperation, steering and development of information security in central government.

The VAHTI Board issues information security statutes, instructions, recommendations, formulates objectives and other information security policy papers and directs information security measures in central government. The Board functions as an organ for coop-eration, preparation and coordination among government organisations in charge of developing and steering information security and data protection. It also encourages the further development of networking arrangements in public information security work.

The VAHTI Board’s objective is to improve the reliability, continuity and quality of central government functions and to make information security an integral part of central government activity, steering and performance management.

All areas of information security are subject to the Board’s scrutiny, comprising

• administrative security
• personnel security
• physical security
• security of telecommunications services
• hardware and equipment security
• software security
• security of information material
• operations security
• risk management and
• contingency planning.

The Ministry of Finance takes an active part in international cooperation in the field of information security in, for example, the EU, the OECD and ENISA.

VAHTI instructions and projects

• Currently valid VAHTI instructions (mainly in Finnish)
  
• VAHTI projects (in Finnish)
  

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