Let’s go for the European Cyber Solidarity Act! The European Commission has just presented yesterday, Tuesday April 18, a proposal for a regulation to beef up the European Union’s cybersecurity capacities, a legislative project which is now on the table of the European Parliament and the Council.
Against the backdrop of rising tensions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the settlement proposal had already been discussed last November. Also reported by European Commissioner Thierry Breton during the FIC in Lille, who compared it to a cyber Galileo, this project should enable Member States to “better detect, anticipate and counter major or large-scale cybersecurity incidents ”.
Cyber Shield
In concrete terms, this involves setting up a network of security operations centers (SOCs), ie a “European Cyber Shield” equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. The latter should be operational from the beginning of next year. It will be tasked with producing “high quality” intelligence on cyber threats. A first pilot project already brings together 17 countries through three major SOCs.
Beyond this network, the Cyber Solidarity Act provides, as its name suggests, the establishment of a solidarity mechanism to react more quickly in the event of a crisis. In addition to the training phases, with, for example, tests to assess the vulnerability of critical infrastructures, this plan provides for the creation of a European cybersecurity reserve.
The latter will be based on the services of trusted private suppliers, selected after calls for tenders. Finally, the European Commission is pushing for the establishment of support intended to finance the assistance provided by one Member State to another.
Academy
In total, these various measures are valued at an envelope of 1.1 billion euros. But that’s not all. This legislative project is supplemented by another project, that of the creation of a European cybersecurity skills academy.
Enisa, the European Cybersecurity Agency and the European Cybersecurity Competence Center are in charge of this last file. Initially hosted online, the academy should make it possible to offer training and certifications on a single site. It should eventually, hopes the European Commission, contribute to filling the lack of qualified professionals.