EU moves to deter cyberattacks

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - The European Commission proposed on Tuesday a new law to reinforce the EU’s capacities to deter cyberattacks and handle incidents in a more coordinated way.

With a proposed budget of over €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion), the EU Cyber Solidarity Act supports “detection and awareness of cybersecurity threats and incidents, bolster preparedness of critical entities,” the EU executive body said in a statement.

The draft aims to strengthen the response capabilities of EU countries and encourages solidarity and “concerted crisis management” in case of incidents.

If adopted, the law will create a Cyber Emergency Mechanism to help EU members in testing the resilience of their highly critical sectors, such as healthcare, transport, or energy.

For crisis situations, the EU would also set up a pool of “trusted providers” that will be ready to intervene immediately, and EU member states could count on financial support from the EU budget.

The European Commission proposed to create the European Cyber Shield, a cooperation of national and cross-border Security Operations Centers, to detect cyber threats through data analysis and issue warnings.

The infrastructure is expected to start working early next year.

The draft also seeks to set up a Cybersecurity Skills Academy, a platform to promote cybersecurity skills for ordinary citizens and to support the training of professionals.

EU members and the European Parliament have yet to adopt the proposal.