NATO and the European Union work together to tackle growing cyber threats

  • 10 Dec. 2018 -
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  • Last updated: 13 Dec. 2018 10:57

Senior officials from NATO met their counterparts from the European Union today (10 December) to take stock of recent activities and explore further areas for engagement on cyber defence.

“We are pleased with the progress made to enhance our preparedness and resilience,” said Dr. Antonio Missiroli, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges. “Our focus will remain on strengthening the ways in which we share information, train, educate, and exercise together to ensure that we have the most robust tools possible for responding to growing cyber threats”.

The officials discussed developments from the NATO Summit in Brussels last July, including implementation of NATO’s Cyber Defence Pledge as well as NATO’s decision to recognise cyberspace as a domain of operations. Initiatives at the EU, including the Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox and recent exercises, were also raised.

“There is a need to strengthen the measures to prevent, detect and respond to malicious activities in cyberspace“, said Pawel Herczynski, Director for Security Policy from the European External Action Service. “We should keep focus and exchange relevant good practices concerning the cyber aspects and implications of crisis management and response”.

Cyber defence continues to be an area for increased engagement between NATO and the EU. Collaboration between incident response teams is key for improving readiness to respond to cyber threats and attacks. The exchange of good practice concerning the cyber aspects and implications of crisis management is the latest topic of dialogue and practical cooperation between the two organisations. Cyber defence staff from the EU also recently took part in NATO’s Cyber Coalition exercise last month in Estonia, which brought together more than 700 cyber defenders from Allies, partners, industry and academia.