Press Restart Montenegro Launches New Open Data Portal after Cyberattack Balkan Insight

pIt was the biggest cyberattack in Montenegrin history In August 2022 a digital assault battered the governments online platforms and took down much of the public administrations digital infrastructureppMinistries the Property Administration the Revenue and Customs Administration and the courts were all affected by the ransomware attack which used malware to lock and encrypt data and important files with a view to demanding a ransomppCuba Ransomware a criminal group suspected of links to Russia claimed responsibility for the attack in September 2022 but the Montenegrin state prosecutors office has yet to identify the direct perpetratorppAmong the casualties of the attack was the countrys open data portal launched in August 2018 to supply digitized information from official bodies to the publicppIt had also been integrated with the EU Open Data Portal which offers data from EU institutions agencies and other bodiesppAt the request of the government FBI experts and Frances National Agency for the Security of Information Systems ANSSI joined the investigation in September 2022 The FBI submitted a report on the cyberattacks to the Police Administration in January 2023 It has never been made publicppAfter the attack it was still possible to register on the open data portal but not to access the data and any information on it The last update on the current portal was from May 2022ppThe Ministry of Public Administration now says a new open data portal will be established by the end of this yearppA company has been selected and work is underway to establish it the portal The new portal will be set up by the end of December this year the ministry told BIRNppThe ministry told BIRN it issued the tender to select a company to establish the new portal in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme UNDPppIt did not explain how the site itself will functionppBut UNDP told BIRN that public bodies will publish data in an open format on the portal which will be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Administration and will adhere to all principles of transparency security and accessibilityppThe value of the contract is 123000 and the project is financed by the European Union the UNDP addedppOpen data is a concept in which specific publicsector data is made available for use and reuse by everyone on the Internet so increasing the transparency of the public administrationppThis reduces the number of requests for free access to information and increases the quantity and quality of information published by government bodiesppMontenegros open data portal wwwdatagovme was established to more efficiently enable the right to free access to information and allow data use for commercial and noncommercial purposes through a joint catalogueppWhen launched in 2018 the Ministry of Public Administration said it would represent a central hub for datasets from all institutions and for information sharing and communication between institutions and system usersppPublishing data in machinereadable formats is an obligation prescribed by the Law on Free Access to Information which is aligned with the European Union directive on public sector information it said at the timeppMontenegros parliament ratified the Council of Europes Convention on Access to Official Documents in January 2012 and the legislative framework for the right to access information in Montenegro was established the same yearppTo further strengthen transparency and government legitimacy Montenegros legislation had also to be aligned with the new European Union Directive 20191024 on open data and reuse of public sector informationppA survey conducted jointly by the Ministry of Public Administration and UNDP in January 2022 showed that 165 datasets from 12 sectors were available on the portal None was from the environmental protection sustainable development or tourism sectorsppThe survey said human resources and institutional capacities in the public sector needed strengthening to produce open data It also said public institutions should be obliged by law to submit data to the portalppSnezana Nikcevic from 35mm a Podgoricabased NGO that monitors public services told BIRN that the open data portal was a good initiative but it never published enough datappInitially only a little over 100 datasets were published on the portal and only by a few institutions Nikcevic told BIRNppMuhamed Gjokaj a member of the Council of the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data and Free Access to Information AZLP also said the initial portal was inadequateppThe AZLP decides on appeals regarding requests from individuals and companies for access to open datappHe said that if the state decides to make a wider range of open data available it must establish special offices across Montenegro that scan the archival material enter them into the system and format them into machinereadable formatsppAfter that the data can be offered to the public and the market most of it publicly but some for commercial purposes he saidppThese initial investments are indeed large and would likely amount to several million euros But the state would quickly recover these funds both from commercial use of the data and from improving the business environment reducing the time for various administrative activities and similar improvements Gjokaj addedppAccording to the 2023 Open Data Report for Europe the Montenegrin governments action plan included obligations to improve open data at national and local levels including adopting mandatory annual open data plans and calendars for public institutionsppHowever stakeholders faced difficulties fulfilling open data obligations due to the need to recover data and restore IT infrastructure following the cyberattack in 2022 the report saidppIn the next action plan the Ministry of Public Administration and the Open Data Management Council should focus on publishing key categories of data that Montenegro has been missing such as air quality administrative boundaries election results and land ownership it advisedppPavle Cupic a coordinator at the Podgoricabased NGO Civic Alliance emphasizes that greater transparency in public data often leads to greater accountability of public institutionsppFor example the availability of budget data can reduce corruption and allow citizens and civil society organisations to better monitor public spending he said Digitalising services reduces bureaucratic barriers and speeds up processes for citizens and businesses Cupic told BIRNppMontenegros Public Administration Reform Strategy for 20222026 which was released in February 2022 noted that more than 84 per cent of public administration employees were not familiar even with the concept of open datappIt also said that 83 per cent of public sector employees had never heard of the term machinereadable data and 935 per cent were unaware that they can use open data in their workppCupic believes Montenegro may not yet be at a level where citizens and civil society organisations can fully benefit from digitalization and open datappNot even all institutions understand the importance of this issue nor do they contribute enough to fully implement the digitalization process and realize the potential significance of open data Cupic saidppThe Ministry of Public Administration and the UNDP survey from January 2022 also showed that the open data portal had not been sufficiently promoted to the publicppIt said data should be better systematized and urged public institutions to designate contact person to handle open data issuesppGjokaj from the AZLP maintains that a better open data system would attract foreign investment and cut corruptionppFully implementing open data reduces the need to visit different counters and services required by citizens and businesses are expedited it leads also to a significant reduction in corruption Gjokaj said The more data available the less room there is for corruptionppNikcevic of 35mm suggests that the new open data portal should be more comprehensive but also involve more intensive work with people from the public administration to ensure a functional and regularly updated databaseppThe open data that institutions are supposed to publish is especially important for journalists civil society organisations and social enterprises because it enables the monitoring and highlighting of both negative and positive practices in public administration It also helps to propose certain solutions and predict various trends she saidppData especially today when almost everything we do is data is crucial for making informed decisions at the end of the day thats the point of democratising processes to have a society where individuals make informed decisions she concludedppppAbout usppThe TeamppLetters to the EditorppNewslettersppBIRN ConsultancyppSubscribe to PremiumppAwardsppInstitutions and PartnersppContact usppRSS FeedsppCopyright BIRN 2007 Terms of use Privacy Policy Powered by 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