On Tuesday 18 April, the European Commission adopted the Cyber Solidarity Act, a draft European regulation aimed at providing Europe with a cyber shield in order to “quickly and efficiently detect major cyber threats”. This pan-European infrastructure will consist of national and cross-border Security Operations Centers (SOCs) across the EU, tasked with detecting and acting on cyber threats. Concretely, Europe is seeking to improve the relevance and speed of its cyber response in the event of incidents, in a context of increased risks, particularly related to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
“Today marks the proposal for a European Cyber Shieldcommented Thierry Breton, European Commissioner. To effectively detect, respond to, and recover from large-scale cybersecurity threats, it is imperative that we invest substantially and urgently in cybersecurity capabilities. The cybersolidarity law is a crucial step in our journey towards achieving this goal”.
These security operations centers will use advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced data analytics, to detect and share timely warnings about cyber threats and cross-border incidents. “In turn, the authorities and entities concerned will be able to react more effectively to major incidents”explains Brussels.
A cybersecurity reserve
The European cybersolidarity law also provides for the creation of a “cybernetic emergency mechanism” to increase preparedness and improve incident response capabilities in the EU. It will include preparedness and testing actions, notably in highly critical sectors (health, transport, energy…), but also the creation of a new EU cybersecurity reserve composed of trusted providers ready to intervene. , at the request of a Member State or the Union institutions, bodies and agencies, in the event of a significant or large-scale cybersecurity incident.
The bill provides for financial support “for mutual assistance, where a Member State could offer support to another Member State”. The total budget for all actions under the EU Cyber Solidarity Act is €1.1 billion, of which around two thirds will be funded by the EU through the Digital Europe programme.
Next step: the European Parliament and the Council will now examine the proposal for a regulation relating to the European law on cybersolidarity.