Margaritis Schinas – Photo © European Union 2021
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Commission laid out plans Wednesday for building a new ‘joint cyber unit’ to tackle the rising number of serious cyber incidents impacting public services, businesses and citizens across the EU.
Advanced and coordinated responses in the field of cybersecurity have become increasingly necessary, as cyberattacks grow in number, scale and consequences, impacting heavily our security.
The EU executive says all relevant actors in the EU now need to respond collectively and exchange relevant information on a ‘need to share’, rather than only ‘need to know’ basis.
“The recent ransomware attacks should serve as a warning that we must protect ourselves against threats that could undermine our security and our European Way of Life,” said EC vice-president Margaritis Schinas: “Today, we can no longer distinguish between online and offline threats. We need to pool all our resources to defeat cyber risks and enhance our operational capacity.”
The ‘joint cyber unit’ aims to bring together resources and expertise available to the EU and its Member States to effectively prevent, deter and respond to mass cyber incidents and crises.
With cybersecurity communities, including civilian, law enforcement, diplomatic and cyber defence communities, as well as private sector partners, often operating separately, the Joint Cyber Unit offrers a virtual and physical platform of cooperation.
It allows relevant EU institutions, bodies and agencies together with the Member States will build progressively a European platform for solidarity and assistance to counter large-scale cyberattacks.
The Recommendation on the creation of the Joint Cyber Unit is an important step towards completing the European cybersecurity crisis management framework.
