It’s necessary to create ‘cyber army’: 3 ‘internet’ problems that are important for Armenia

There are three global problems in the internet sector in Armenia; all of them are important for the country and need a solution. Igor Mkrtumyan, Chairman of the Board of the “Internet Society” NGO, expressed such a view within the framework of the 7th Armenian Internet Governance Forum (ArmIGF-2022) being held in Yerevan.

Three problems

The first problem, he said, is broadband internet access. "We are obliged to bring it to the most remote villages. The development potential of Armenia is the youth of rural areas, who can be a new impetus for the development of the IT sector in Armenia. The role of the government is very big here. If there are no government investments, it will not be possible to bring the internet to all remote places," said Mkrtumyan.

The second problem, according to the specialist, is cybercrimes, which must be fought against. For this purpose, a “cyber army” should be created in Armenia—both at the Ministry of Defense and under the Ministry of High-Tech Industry.

The third problem, according to Mkrtumyan, is related to the fact that there are not enough favorable conditions in Armenia for small and medium-sized businesses to have the opportunity to have a presence on the internet.

"Until today, 40,000 domains are registered in Armenia. For comparison, let me note that 240,000 domains are registered in Estonia, 130,000 each—in Latvia, Lithuania. The reason for this is that the conditions for small and medium-sized enterprises in Armenia are not very favorable. Websites are for you to move all the functions of your organization to the internet. Now we witness that many organizations do not have a physical office, all functions are being transferred to the internet, and that is the direction of future development. We should bring this trend to all organizations," said Mkrtumyan.

Internet is “sea” for landlocked countries

Digital transformation is fundamentally changing our lives; and those societies that do not realize this will suffer and will have to play by the rules of the game created by others. Vahan Hovsepyan, the person in charge for external relations at RIPE NCC company, which provides internet services, expressed such an opinion at ArmIGF-2022.

"If we do not have all these systems implemented in the fields of education, health care, defense, and administration, we cannot move forward and be a successful country. Once we grasp this, we will know what technical standards we need.

Many say it would be good if the internet didn't exist, it brings evil. There are good and bad things everywhere; and since this is a new reality, yes, bad things will happen here, too. We should be able to fight against it and be successful here as well.

Many people say that the internet is a ‘sea’ for landlocked countries, which gives you the opportunity not to be blocked, to hinder your economy. The internet is opening up borders. But that's only if we have the appropriate ‘fleet,’ the knowledge for us to be able to ‘swim’ in that ‘sea.’ Our task is to determine how to be successful in that ‘sea,’” said Hovsepyan.