1st ENISA Advisory Group Meeting: Members to Strengthen Agency’s Work Towards a Cyber Secure Europe

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Today, the 23-strong expert group is kicking off its first meeting. The Advisory Group will assist the Agency in drawing up its work programme, achieving its strategic objectives and communicating with key stakeholders.

Today, the Advisory Group of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, ENISA, is meeting for the first time to discuss the Agency's new strategy and the current political landscape of Europe’s cybersecurity ecosystem. Established under the EU Cybersecurity Act (Article 21, CSA) of 2019, the group will serve a 2.5-year term to assist the Agency with its numerous tasks, to advise the Executive Director on drawing up a major part of the annual work programme and to engage effectively on the programme with stakeholder communities.

The Advisory Group meeting will provide input to start discussions on the Agency’s future work programme, and AG members will bring to the table the latest developments from their field of expertise and the communities they represent. The meeting will be virtual.

Juhan Lepassaar, Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, said: “The Agency is honoured and extremely pleased that a number of distinguished individuals, who have all in their different fields been advocates of cybersecurity, have expressed interest and accepted to be part of our Advisory Group. We will benefit from their extensive experience in their respective areas, which allows us to gain important insight into the developments in those fields. The members will collectively and individually act as a sounding board for the Agency’s work programme as a whole. They will help us design individual actions to meet the needs of Europe's society and economy, in our path of achieving a high common level of cybersecurity in the Union.

The Advisory Group is both geographically diverse and gender balanced. Appointed by the ENISA Management Board on a proposal by Mr. Lepassaar, members of the group come from an array of professional backgrounds. As called for in the CSA, the group includes stakeholders from the ICT industry, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), consumer groups, as well as providers of electronic communications networks or services available to the public, operators of essential services, academic experts in the field of cybersecurity, and nominated representatives of European standardisation organisations, of law enforcement and of data protection supervisory authorities. A full list of the group can be found in the page Advisory Group (AG) role and composition, a glimpse of that is provided in the following video.

Since the Agency’s foundation in 2004, a Permanent Stakeholders Group has served as the directional body for the Agency’s work programme. The Advisory Group not only replaces the Permanent Stakeholders Group, but it aims to ensure that stakeholders have a proactive voice in the development of the Agency’s annual work programme.

About the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity

The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, ENISA, is the Union’s agency dedicated to achieving a high common level of cybersecurity across Europe. Established in 2004 and strengthened by the EU Cybersecurity Act, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity contributes to EU cyber policy, enhances the trustworthiness of ICT products, services and processes with cybersecurity certification schemes, cooperates with Member States and EU bodies, and helps Europe prepare for the cyber challenges of tomorrow. Through knowledge sharing, capacity building and awareness raising, the Agency works together with its key stakeholders to strengthen trust in the connected economy, to boost resilience of the Union’s infrastructure, and, ultimately, to keep Europe’s society and citizens digitally secure. More information about ENISA can be found in the ENISA About page.

Further Information

EU Cybersecurity Act

ENISA Strategy

Advisory Group (AG) role and composition

Press Contact

For questions related to the press and interviews, please contact press (at) enisa.europa.eu.