News Item

The EU Cybersecurity Act’s first anniversary: one step closer to a cyber secure Europe

The CSA has put the conversation of Cybersecurity into action through a stronger ENISA and the creation of the EU cybersecurity certification framework.

Published on June 26, 2020

On 27 June 2020, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) celebrates the first anniversary of the EU Cybersecurity Act (CSA) and its strengthened role towards securing Europe’s information society. The CSA gave the Agency a permanent mandate, a new list of tasks and increased resources, and also established the EU cybersecurity certification framework.

The Agency now plays a key role in setting up the framework and builds on its past work towards achieving a high common level of cybersecurity across the European Union by actively supporting Member States, EU institutions, industry, academia and citizens. Regarding the framework, the Agency is close to completing the first cybersecurity certification scheme and is making rapid progress towards a second one, on cloud services.

The mandate has also expanded the Agency’s role in supporting capacity-building and preparedness capabilities, as well as operational cooperation - areas that continue to be put to the test during the COVID-19 pandemic. ENISA acted quickly at the onset of the pandemic by preparing awareness campaigns, sets of tools and publications offering in-depth guidance on cyber safety for organisations, businesses and citizens, all publically available on the webpage COVID19.

Under its expanded role in policy development and implementation, ENISA has thrived, especially in the area of emerging technologies. For 5G security, ENISA has been involved in each phase and continues to support the European Commission and Member States as a common toolbox is being implemented. Last year, the Agency also supported the EU Member States with developing an EU-wide joint risk assessment regarding the 5G roll out, and delivered a 5G threat landscape report, which analyses threats at a more technical level. On Artificial Intelligence, the Agency has set up a 15-member ad-hoc working group on Cybersecurity for AI that will further advance European expertise on AI threats and solutions.

In addition, ENISA has welcomed the newly mandated tasks around research and innovation by creating the EU cybersecurity skills framework and fostering collaboration amongst the four cybersecurity pilot projects of the European Cybersecurity Competence Network.