News Item

EU cyber security exercises community meets in Madrid, Spain on 24-25 June

Published on June 24, 2014

The 19^th workshop on pan European Cyber Exercises is taking place on 24 and 25 June, 2014 in Madrid, Spain organized jointly by the Department of National Security of the Spanish Prime Minister’s Office and ENISA.

During the workshop ENISA and representatives from Member States will discuss the results of the technical phase of Cyber Europe 2014 which was concluded on April 28-30, 2014 and then deal with the planning and organization of the operational part of the exercise which is coming next. During this operational phase one of main objectives is to test the EU-Standard Operational Procedures (EU-SOPs) to manage multinational cyber-crises.

Background:

Simulating incidents and running exercises to test response capabilities are strategic in improving the overall security and resilience of Europe’s Critical Information Infrastructures. Cyber-exercises are recognised as an essential part of the EU cyber crisis cooperation and response improvement lifecycle. The European Union Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) is a key facilitator of these exercises and is organising this year ‘Cyber Europe 2014’, CE2014, a highly sophisticated cyber exercise, that will take place throughout 2014, involving more than 600 security actors across Europe.

Bi-annual exercises

The exercise is organised bi-annually by ENISA in cooperation with all EU Member States and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Compared to the previous two exercises, executed in 2010 and 2012, Cyber Europe 2014 has grown considerably in scope, scale and complexity. It will take place in three phases: technical (concluded in April) and later during the year; at 2. operational/tactical and 3. strategic/political levels.