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[To Eurosmart members only]
European Commission gives details on the Joint Cyber Unit
Yesterday [23 June], the European Commission unveiled its plans for the future Joint Cyber Unit. This new Unit had already been announced in December’s Cybersecurity Strategy.
The goal of the Joint Cyber Unit is to bring together resources from the EU and Member States to prevent, deter and respond to mass cyber incidents and crises.
The European Commission, together with the Member States, is building this platform which will be both virtual and physical. This means that cybersecurity experts will have a physical space where they can meet in case of need and come together to conduct joint operations. There will also be a virtual platform for collaboration and secure information sharing. This platform will leverage on the European Cyber-Shield, including Security Operation Centres (SOCs) and Information Sharing and Analysis Centres (ISACs).
The Commission, mainly through the Digital Europe Programme, will fund the set up of the physical and virtual platform, the establishment of secure communication channels, and training capabilities as well as detection capabilities. In addition, the European Defence Fund could fund cyber defence technologies and cyber defence capabilities.
The following planning for the Unit was proposed:
-by 31 December 2021: assess the organisational aspects and identify EU operational capabilities.
-by 30 June 2022: prepare national incident and crisis response plans and roll out join preparedness activities. The Commission and the High Representative of the EU will draw up a report on the roles and responsibilities of participants within the Joint Cyber Unit, to be transmitted to the Council for endorsement.
-by 31 December 2022: operationalise the Joint Cyber Unit by mobilising EU Rapid Reaction teams, along the lines of procedures defined in the EU incident and Crisis Response Plan.
-by June 2023: involve private sector partners, users and providers of cybersecurity solutions and services, to increase information sharing and to be able to escalate EU coordinated response to cyber threats.
Yesterday, the European Commission has also officially taken the decision to set up an ENISA branch in Brussels. The physical place of the Joint Cyber Unit will be located near ENISA’s Brussels office.
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