The European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO) was awarded on the 19th December the European project to build the cybersecurity community support. The project named ECCO (European Cybersecurity COmmunity), led by ECSO, is joined by a consortium of 13 cybersecurity stakeholders from the public and private sector and started on the 19th December, for a duration of two years. The goal of ECCO is to support activities needed to develop, promote, coordinate and organise the work of the Cybersecurity Competence Community at European Level, within the scope and operations of the ECCC and NCC Network.
In line with the Regulation establishing the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre (ECCC) and the Network of National Coordination Centres (NCCs), the ECCO project will support community and capacity building in cybersecurity research, technology, and industrial policy at EU level.
This newly awarded project, led by ECSO, will strengthen Europe’s leadership in cybersecurity, support network and information system resilience and reliability, and increase the global competitiveness and high standards of the EU’s cybersecurity industry to retain and develop cybersecurity technological and industrial capacities.
Since its establishment in 2016 as the contractual counterpart to the European Commission for implementing Europe’s unique Public-Private Partnership in Cybersecurity (2016-2020), ECSO has fostered cooperation between public and private actors, allowing Europeans to access innovative and trustworthy solutions made in Europe, which laid the basis to develop ECCO.
“From the start, our mission in ECSO has been to build a strong European cybersecurity ecosystem. Having won this project is an important confirmation of our work and proves once again that cross-sector cooperation and community building is paramount to a resilient, strategic and less dependent European cybersecurity ecosystem”
ECSO Secretary General Luigi Rebuffi.
ECCO is composed of a unique group of leaders in the cybersecurity domain. The main coordinators of the four Pilot projects on Competence Centres, who contribute with their communities and results of the Pilots’ work, are:
- UniBwM and TSI – Telecommunication Systems Institute of the Technical University of Crete – for CONCORDIA;
- RHEA Group Cyber Security Services S.A for ECHO;
- Goethe University Frankfurt and University of Murcia for CyberSec4Europe
- Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux énergies alternatives, CNR – Italian National Research Council and Fraunhofer AISEC, for SPARTA;
- Leaders In Security, Sopra Steria, Trust-IT Services and Deloitte Risk Advisory as experts in specific project areas.
With a well-established network of cybersecurity players (more than 600 organisations directly connected) and numerous operational cooperation with European actors, ECCO will analyse and stimulate collaboration within the European Cybersecurity Competence Community and link it with the ECCC and the NCC network, generating a wealth of opportunities for the European cybersecurity community as a whole.
