The path to European cyber resilience: ECSO shows the way through public-private cooperation
On the 10th May, ECSO had the pleasure to collaborate with the Cybertech Europe 2022 conference and moderate a high-level panel focussed on cyber resilience and readiness, the development of public-private partnerships and the pressing need for more investments. Together with representatives from the European Commission, ENISA, ASD Europe, eu-LISA and the Italian National Cybersecurity Agency, ECSO Secretary General Luigi Rebuffi explained ECSO’s mission and strategy to address such pressing topics.
From Brussels, to Venice, The Hague and Paris, ECSO was recently called in Rome to bring a European perspective on cybersecurity in a session tackling a critical issue in the sector: European cyber resilience and readiness. The session brought together representatives from the public and private sector, making it clear that such level of cooperation is key to make Europe more autonomous and competitive in cybersecurity.
From a policy perspective, the examination of current EU cybersecurity policy workstreams brought up the strong need for consistency and prompt reaction in the cybersecurity sector, especially when considering the current geopolitical context which has shifted Europe’s focus towards security and defence. To achieve this, the majority of representatives stressed the need to create holistic and long-term policies that meet the industry’s demand for a simplified governance. To this end, the European Commission highlighted its many initiatives, in particular the Data Act, which focuses on security of digital products and services as well as interoperability, bringing Europe closer to digital sovereignty. In terms of certification, ENISA presented its recently developed first candidate scheme on European Common Criteria (EUCC), which will be adopted by the European Commission in the implementing act. The scheme has been developed with the support of an external group of stakeholders (Ad Hoc Working Group) and of representatives of the EU Member States (ECCG).
Public-private cooperation was also identified by the panellists as key factor in achieving cybersecurity resilience, and with its diverse Membership, ECSO provided the right example of how different communities can cooperate whilst guaranteeing trust among peers. “At ECSO our work is to ultimately bring together the European cybersecurity community and build a European ecosystem where resilience, prosperity and trust are core elements”, said Luigi Rebuffi. “We do this via a series of targeted working groups and initiatives, which bring together public entities, the industry, educators and many more stakeholders involved in cybersecurity. We also work on policy aspects, including activities part of what we call the European cybersecurity industrial policy, and to achieve our mission of federating the European cybersecurity community, we are closely working with the European Commission and monitoring the development of the Cybersecurity Competence Centres, which will allow the exchange of information and best practices between local and national cybersecurity agencies and will provide more unity in Europe on the cybersecurity front”, he added.
One last, but yet important, aspect concerned market building through investments. “To achieve excellence in a fast-paced sector like cybersecurity and become more competitive, developments must be faster”, concluded Luigi Rebuffi. “Let us focus less on the pursuit of perfection and instead invest and believe in new creations, have a strong political will and work to make sure that digital transformation does not remain just a vision”, he concluded.
ECSO provides a variety of opportunities for stakeholders to join the European cybersecurity movement and contribute with expertise, knowledge and concrete actions. To find out more about ECSO’s work, vision and mission, visit us at www.ecs-org.eu
