The European Union is seeking to beef up its cyber defense. While the European Parliament has just adopted the Nis 2 directive, the European Commission has just unveiled its new strategy to strengthen European capabilities and better coordinate them. “It is time to strengthen our cooperation in cyber defense in order to protect, detect, defend and deter”, declared Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market.
Russia’s war on #Ukraine & the recent attacks on key parts of our infrastructure are wake-up calls. Our Security & Defense package will step-up
? our military to move faster
? our ability to defend military & civilian assets from #cyberattacks
More: https://t.co/RiUvaDWNIt pic.twitter.com/WvaAx2OUfK— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) November 10, 2022
Reinforcement two years after the cybersecurity strategy
Two years after the presentation of the European Union’s cybersecurity strategy, in December 2020, the objectives have therefore not changed. “Detect, defend, deter”, declared European commissioners Thierry Breton and Margarítis Schinás at the time. But in the meantime, Russia has invaded Ukraine, thus signaling the great return of war on the continent.
A conflict caused by authoritarian regimes which has spilled over into the cyber domain, notes the European executive, with “a growing number of cyberattacks targeting critical civilian infrastructures”. “The boundaries between the civilian and military dimensions of cyberspace are blurred, as seen in recent attacks on energy networks, transport infrastructure and space,” continues the European Commission, citing the computer attack on the ViaSat’s KA-SAT network.
four pillars
To better protect itself, the European executive advocates even closer cooperation between the armed forces and the private sector on the cyber defense front, an area where “borders are blurred”. The new strategy that has just been presented is thus based on four pillars: strengthening coordination between national players and the European Union, securing the European Union’s defense ecosystem, investing in cyber defense capabilities and set up “tailor-made partnerships”, whether with NATO, this military alliance, or with other key partners.
Concretely, the new European cyber defense strategy will materialize through the creation of a European Union cyber defense coordination center, the establishment of a network of military incident response centers, or the development of exchanges between cyber commanders of member countries. Similarly, the European Commission wants to continue training, through a cyber defense exercise, CyDef-X.
Finally, the European executive will prepare the implementation of a new “cybersolidarity” mechanism. It is thus a question of reinforcing the intervention capacities of the European Union and of being able to fly to the aid of a Member State which would be mired in a major cyber crisis. Ultimately, this system should support the creation of a cyber reserve based on the services of trusted suppliers ready to intervene in the event of major incidents.