Estonian Free PressEstonian Free Press
  • National Security
    • United States
    • United Kingdom
    • Europe
    • Estonia
    • Latvia
    • Lithuania
    • Moldova
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
  • Counterterrorism
  • Cybersecurity
  • Intelligence

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest National Security News directly to your inbox.

What's Hot

Beitnere-Le Galla pieņēmusi lēmumu nekandidēt Saeimas vēlēšanās ģimenes apstākļu dēļ

August 7, 2022

Unde activează fostul vicepremier pe Reintegrare, Vladislav Kulminski

August 7, 2022

Thatcher’s energy secretary says Tory leadership contenders’ response to price spike ‘inadequate’

August 7, 2022
Facebook Twitter Instagram
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact
Sunday, August 7
Estonian Free PressEstonian Free Press
  • National Security
    • United States
    • United Kingdom
    • Europe
    • Estonia
    • Latvia
    • Lithuania
    • Moldova
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
  • Counterterrorism
  • Cybersecurity
  • Intelligence
en English
en Englishet Estonianlv Latvianlt Lithuanianpl Polishro Romanianru Russianuk Ukrainian
Trending
  • Beitnere-Le Galla pieņēmusi lēmumu nekandidēt Saeimas vēlēšanās ģimenes apstākļu dēļ
  • Unde activează fostul vicepremier pe Reintegrare, Vladislav Kulminski
  • Thatcher’s energy secretary says Tory leadership contenders’ response to price spike ‘inadequate’
  • Jos sau nu guvernarea? Expert: Vom vedea situația când vor fi proteste
  • Ce cadouri a primit prim-ministra de la diferiți oficiali
  • Beijing continuing to send warships, aircraft toward Taiwan after Pelosi visit
  • Thousands of infected blood victims to receive £100,000 compensation
  • Penny Mordaunt claims Liz Truss ‘misinterpreted’ after dismissing cost of living ‘handouts’
Subscribe
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Estonian Free PressEstonian Free Press
Home » Commission proposes ‘operational arm’ of European Cyber Shield

Commission proposes ‘operational arm’ of European Cyber Shield

June 23, 20214 Mins Read Cybersecurity
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

The European Commission laid out on Wednesday (23 June) its vision for a Joint Cyber Unit to tackle evolving cyberthreats and to increase European resilience.

The Joint Cyber Unit will serve as a platform for cooperation for cybersecurity communities across the EU, enabling them to draw on each other’s support and to create a cybersecurity shield to detect cyberthreats before they can cause damage.

“The Joint Cyber Unit is a very important step for Europe to protect its governments, citizens and businesses from global cyberthreats,” said EU High Representative Josep Borrell, presenting the plan.

“When it comes to cyberattacks, we are all vulnerable and that is why cooperation at all levels is crucial,” he added.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put the establishment of a Joint Cyber Unit on her agenda to facilitate information sharing between member states when she first entered office in 2019, stating in her political guidelines that “digitalisation and cybersecurity are two sides of the same coin.”

Since then digitalisation has rapidly accelerated, sped on by the coronavirus pandemic, leaving the EU’s private and public sectors increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks.

The number and ferocity of cyberattacks have skyrocketed in the last year, with the most recent example being the full-scale attack in Belgium, which affected more than 200 organisations.

Belgium suffers major cyberattack

Belgium suffered a major cyberattack on Tuesday, Belgian media reported, affecting many of its key institutions. It’s origin is still unknown.
Belnet’s internet network, which connects public institutions, higher education and university establishments, research centres and public administrations, has been the …

The number of significant malicious attacks against critical sectors has more than doubled in 2020 from 146 incidents in 2019 to to 304 in 2020. More dramatic still is the rise in the number of phishing attacks, the frequency of which increased 667% during the first months of the pandemic, an ENISA spokesperson told EURACTIV.

How the EU is tackling the problem

The Joint Cyber Unit was designed to tackle these rising numbers of serious cyber incidents. It is a “building block to protect ourselves from growing and increasingly complex cyberthreats,” said Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton.

The unit will form the “operational arm of the European Cyber Shield,” he added.

The Joint Cyber Unit aims to pool the operational resources and the expertise of EU institutions, bodies and agencies as well as member states.

The Commission says the Joint Cyber Unit is an important step “towards completing the European cybersecurity crisis management framework” and that it addresses the gap currently left by a lack of structured cooperation between civilian, diplomatic, law enforcement and defence cybersecurity communities.

The Joint Cyber Unit is planned to enter the operational phase by June 2022 and should become fully operational a year later.

Additional measures on cybersecurity

The proposal for the Joint Cyber Unit was released alongside a progress report, where the European Commission took stock of its achievements under each of the 26 initiatives that were set out in the European Cybersecurity Strategy in December.

Most notably, the Commission urged the EU Council and Parliament to swiftly adopt the revised Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems (NIS 2) to ensure the cyber resilience and operational capacity of the EU.

The NIS 2 directive aims at more stringent supervision measures and includes means to support coordinated management of large-scale cybersecurity incidents as well as increased cooperation between member state authorities.

The legislative proposal was adopted by the European Commission in December 2020 and is currently going through the ordinary legislative process.

At the same time, EU countries have made significant progress on the implementation of the 5G Toolbox, which tries to mitigate risks from 5G suppliers. Almost all of the member states already have frameworks in place to impose restrictions on 5G suppliers.

EU countries keep different approaches to Huawei on 5G rollout

After the German Bundesrat recently passed the IT-Security Law, things have been looking increasingly grim for Huawei’s expansion in Europe, while a patchwork of different national approaches to the Chinese tech giant has emerged. EURACTIV took a closer look at where various European capitals currently stand on the issues related to the Chinese 5G supplier.

The Commission also reported positive developments in other areas, such as the improvement of cyberdefence cooperation, the EU’s cyber diplomacy toolbox, and the tackling of hybrid threats.

[Edited by Luca Bertuzzi and Josie Le Blond]

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Telegram Email

Articles Liés

U.K. National Health Service Hit by Cyber Attack

August 6, 2022 Cybersecurity

IPAWS Advisory: Emergency Alert System (EAS) Vulnerability

August 5, 2022 Cybersecurity

GAO Warns Coast Guard of IT and OT Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities

August 5, 2022 Cybersecurity

TMF Invests in Improving Public-Facing Services, Bolstering Cybersecurity

August 4, 2022 Cybersecurity

Bipartisan Legislation Aims to Protect Federal Data Centers from Extreme Weather, Cyber Attacks, and Other Disasters

August 2, 2022 Cybersecurity

HSToday Welcomes Bob Kolasky, Former Head of DHS National Risk Management Center, as Editorial Board Member and Columnist

August 1, 2022 Cybersecurity
Don't Miss
Moldova

Unde activează fostul vicepremier pe Reintegrare, Vladislav Kulminski

By woe whAugust 7, 20220

Fostul vicepremier pe Reintegrare, Vladislav Kulminski, are o nouă funcție. Acesta participă la inspectarea navelor…

Thatcher’s energy secretary says Tory leadership contenders’ response to price spike ‘inadequate’

August 7, 2022

Jos sau nu guvernarea? Expert: Vom vedea situația când vor fi proteste

August 7, 2022

Ce cadouri a primit prim-ministra de la diferiți oficiali

August 7, 2022
Stay In Touch
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
Our Picks

Thousands of infected blood victims to receive £100,000 compensation

August 7, 2022

Penny Mordaunt claims Liz Truss ‘misinterpreted’ after dismissing cost of living ‘handouts’

August 7, 2022

Liz Truss extends polling lead over Rishi Sunak in race for prime minister

August 7, 2022

China keeps up pressure on Taiwan with 4th day of drills

August 7, 2022

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest National Security News directly to your inbox.

© 2022 Estonian Free Press. All rights reserved.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.