How Can Europe Strengthen Cybersecurity?

TL;DR

Europe can strengthen cybersecurity by connecting technical expertise, public policy, industry practices, and international incident response. ENISA’s priorities include secure cloud services, stronger standardization, cooperation against cybercrime, protection for emerging technologies, accessible encryption tools, public education, and coordinated exercises that prepare European and United States teams for global incidents.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Tom Field, vice president of editorial with Information Security Media Group. I'm talking today about the European cybersecurity landscape, and it's my privilege to be talking with Professor Udo Helmbrecht, executive director of ENISA, the European Network and Information Security Agency. Professor Helmbrecht, thank you so much for joining ... Read More

Key Insights

• ENISA’s central role is to bridge technical expertise, government policy, and private-sector implementation. This connection helps parliamentarians, ministry officials, and industry participants understand cybersecurity consequences when developing national strategies, legal rules, regulatory frameworks, and data-protection measures.
• Cloud security assurance depends on mechanisms such as service-level agreements, audits, and certification schemes. These measures are especially important for citizens and small or medium companies that lack the bargaining power to negotiate terms and conditions directly with large cloud providers.
• Cloud computing can give small organizations access to professional security services that they could not afford to maintain internally. Because cloud-based security can scale, it creates both operational opportunities for smaller organizations and professional opportunities for people entering the cybersecurity field.
• ENISA’s impact is demonstrated when governments, communities, and companies use its recommendations. The agency publishes papers, produces threat reports, brings stakeholders together, and supports the process of translating European regulation into the national laws and practical arrangements of member states.
• Cybersecurity is a continuously evolving challenge because solving one problem does not prevent new attack methods from appearing. Progress against botnets can be accompanied by targeted attacks, advanced persistent threats, infected legitimate websites, and drive-by downloads that users may not anticipate.
• Global cybercrime is difficult to investigate because attackers, infrastructure, and victims can be located in different legal jurisdictions. A command-and-control server outside European jurisdiction can support attacks anywhere, while conventional local policing structures are poorly suited to incidents operating across borders.
• Security must be incorporated into emerging technologies from the beginning. ENISA identified smart cities, smart grids, household smart meters, and other digital technologies as areas where security considerations should accompany development rather than be treated as a separate concern.
• Usable encryption remains a major opportunity because technologies such as cryptography, public key infrastructure, electronic signatures, and PGP already exist but are not widely or easily implemented. Simpler products and services could make secure communications, including encrypted email, more accessible to ordinary users.

Questions & Answers

Q: How can Europe improve cybersecurity cooperation?

Europe can improve cooperation by bringing together technical specialists, government institutions, private companies, computer emergency response teams, and law-enforcement bodies. ENISA’s approach includes closer work with Europol and its cybercrime center, support for member states implementing European regulation, and international exercises with the United States to test how teams coordinate when a cybersecurity incident has global reach.

Q: What were ENISA’s main cybersecurity priorities for 2014?

ENISA’s priorities included standardization, closer cooperation against cybercrime, stronger identity management and privacy, cryptography, and support for computer emergency response teams. The agency also emphasized security for emerging technologies such as smart cities, smart grids, and household smart meters. Another priority was preparing a pan-European exercise with the United States to test cooperation during a global incident.

Q: How does ENISA measure its cybersecurity impact?

ENISA did not describe its impact through a single formal key performance indicator. Instead, it looked at whether public institutions, professional communities, and companies used its recommendations and implemented them. Its influence also appeared in its ability to convene communities, publish cloud and threat guidance, support political processes, and help member states translate European regulation into national law.

Q: Why are service-level agreements important for cloud security?

Service-level agreements can establish security expectations between cloud providers and customers. They are particularly relevant for citizens and small or medium companies that cannot negotiate terms and conditions with large providers on equal footing. Alongside auditing and certification schemes, these agreements can give users greater assurance that meaningful information security controls are included in the cloud services they purchase.

Q: Why can cloud computing benefit small organizations?

Cloud computing can help small organizations obtain professional services without maintaining a dedicated information security office or a full internal IT department. Security capabilities can scale within the cloud provider’s infrastructure, potentially giving smaller organizations access to expertise they could not otherwise afford. The field also creates opportunities for young professionals who want to develop careers in information security services.

Q: Why is global cybercrime difficult to investigate?

Global cybercrime is difficult to investigate because attackers, command-and-control servers, compromised systems, and victims may all be located in different jurisdictions. Infrastructure outside European legal authority can be used to attack targets anywhere. Unlike a local incident that can be handled by city police, a cross-border cyberattack requires legal and operational cooperation that is not governed by one shared cyberspace jurisdiction.

Q: What cybersecurity threats did ENISA identify?

ENISA identified organized cybercrime, phishing, identity theft, botnets, targeted attacks, advanced persistent threats, infected websites, and drive-by downloads as important concerns. Legitimate-looking online shops, newspapers, or media sites can become infection channels, so users may not recognize the danger. These conditions make continued education essential for citizens and for chief security officers working inside companies.

Q: How can encrypted email become easier to use?

Encrypted email can become easier to use through simpler products and services that hide unnecessary complexity from ordinary users. Technologies including cryptography, encryption, public key infrastructure, electronic signatures, and PGP were already available, but many had not been widely put into practice. The challenge is to turn those capabilities into accessible services that people can understand and use without prior specialized experience.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• ENISA supports European cybersecurity by publishing cloud guidance and threat reports, convening relevant communities, and helping translate European regulation into member-state law. Its impact is reflected when governments and companies adopt its recommendations, while its broader role is to connect technical expertise with political decision-making and private-sector implementation.

• ENISA’s expanded mandate added responsibilities in standardization and cooperation against cybercrime, including closer work with Europol and its cybercrime center. Other priorities include identity management, privacy, cryptography, computer emergency response teams, and building security into smart cities, smart grids, smart meters, and other developing digital technologies.

• Europe faces targeted attacks, advanced persistent threats, infected websites, drive-by downloads, identity theft, and globally organized cybercrime. Responses require international cooperation, improved governance, public education, scalable professional cloud security, and simpler privacy technologies. ENISA also planned a pan-European exercise with the United States to test coordination during a global incident.