Europe’s security thinking is to undergo an overhaul once the EU’s new diplomatic arm – the European External Action Service (EEAS) – formulates its responses to fast-moving security challenges, including those of the Arab Spring. How best can these EU-level responses be reconciled with member states’ national interests and policies, and can recent initiatives such as the Franco-British defence agreement or the looser Franco-German-Polish “Weimar Triangle” give Europe’s defence drive fresh impet…
Cyber-security stakeholders, actors and victims span governments, national and international institutions, major corporations and interest groups. This debate opens a new SDA series that seeks to make sense of the confusion over cyber-security and cyber-crime, and examines the cooperation mechanisms both in place and urgently needed. How vulnerable is Europe to cyber-attack, and what EU-level measures are now under discussion? And how does Europe compare in the global drive to promote cyber-prot…
Public-private cooperation in cyber-security
Policymakers’ dinner
National approaches to cyber-security greatly vary within Europe and around the world. In some countries, legal responsibility to combat piracy rests with internet providers, with technical expertise often greater in the private sector. How much frontline protection should be left to private companies? How good is information-sharing between public institutions and the private sector? Can the creation of new EU-level and international standards improve our cyber-security, and if so what should these entail?
EU-U.S. Cooperation in cyber-security
The EU-U.S. Cyber working group set up in late 2010 was tasked with developing a collaborative transatlantic approach to cyber-security. What obstacles still stand in the way of to improving cooperation and what role should be played by international organisations from the UN downwards? What are the legal difficulties that stand in the way of greater cyber-security, and how do governments plan to reconcile our rights as citizens with their own concerns over national security ?
Cyber-protection of critical infrastructure
Most cyber-attacks have so far had criminal and financial motives, but for governments the nightmare scenario remains an attack on critical infrastructure. Is a radical approach like cutting such networks off the “public” internet the best solution and could developments like smart grids aggravate this threat? What innovations could make critical infrastructure systems more resilient? Have insurers been party to international governance discussions, and what can software corporations do to help? Is the idea of an EU-wide rapid reaction force for cyber-attacks either feasible or desirable?
The SDA’s cyber-security initiative is supported by a coalition of public and private partners:
Key US defence contractor RSA Security admitted yesterday that cyber-attacks on the company’s SecurID authentication tokens earlier this year can be traced to two nation state hacker groups.
The UK defence contractor Raytheon has been target of a recent cyber-attack.