Cybersecurity Strategy

EDUC-V/033
Adopted

Cybersecurity Strategy

 Adoption: 03/07/2013
 Theme: Enterprise and Industry
support the European Commission's objective to ensure an open, safe and secure cyber space and make the EU’s online environment the safest in the world; stress the importance of adopting a package which will ensure coordination, encourage cooperation, produce clear, decisive actions, achieve a common level of cyber protection, improve resilience in IT systems and networks against new and emerging cyber threats, and reduce fragmentation across the EU; highlight the importance of a genuine partnership involving Member States, EU institutions, local and regional authorities (LRAs), the private sector and civil society.
The CoR Opinion on "Cybersecurity Strategy" expects the new cybersecurity package (including the Strategy and Directive) to "raise the bar" and make a major contribution to the development of cyber security standards across the EU, diminishing legal uncertainty, increasing trust and confidence in online services, reducing unnecessary costs and administrative burdens and thus supporting the Digital Single Market and the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy. The opinion also recognises the key advances the EU has made to date in better protecting citizens from online crimes, including proposing legislation on attacks against information systems, and the launch of a Global Alliance to fight child sexual abuse online. The package should take forward previous actions, including those identified in the 2010 Digital Agenda for Europe , and build towards a robust European cyber defence policy; urges to this effect the co-legislators currently discussing the Commission proposal for a Directive on attacks against information systems, to come to a swift agreement on the proposal.
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS - welcomes the Commission’s Cybersecurity Strategy and Directive on Network and Information Security (NIS), and supports the Strategy’s objective to ensure an open, safe and secure cyber space and make the EU’s online environment the safest in the world; - believes that a package to bind existing and proposed work in this area is urgently needed and will help provide a coordinated, strategic vision for Europe. The package is welcomed in order to ensure coordination, encourage cooperation, produce clear, decisive actions, achieve a common level of cyber protection, improve resilience in IT systems and networks against new and emerging cyber threats, and reduce fragmentation across the EU; - recommends the publication of an Action Plan by the Commission to explain how the ambitious goals set out in the package will work in practice. The Action Plan will also need guidance for evaluating and measuring the effect of the Strategy, in order to ascertain whether cooperation is taking place and whether progress is being achieved; - stresses that the new package should help improve the prevention, detection and response to cyber incidents and lead to better information sharing and coordination between Member States and the Commission against major cyber incidents. Achieving this will require genuine partnership working involving Member States, EU institutions, local and regional authorities (LRAs), the private sector and civil society.
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