EU to increase investment in technology for bolstering cyber security

The European Commission wants to bolster cyber security in the EU by increasing investment in technology, setting stricter consumer safeguards and stepping up diplomacy to deter attacks by other nations, among other measures. [caption id=“attachment_3865895” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image.[/caption] The Commission is due to announce its proposals in a report later this month, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on 6 September. It also argues for greater national and law enforcement cooperation to halt incoming attacks. The report calls for a short-term injection of additional EU spending to achieve both a critical mass of investment and overcome fragmentation within the region, calling a previous 2016 plan to spend 1.8 bn Euros ($2.1 bn) by 2020 a “first step”. It cited public and private estimates that the impact of **cybercrime** on the EU rose fivefold between 2013 and 2017 and could rise another four times by 2019. Europol puts these losses at 265 bn Euros ($316 bn) per year. In its report, the European Commission calls for increased technical capacity to investigate **cyber attacks** , as well as investment to promote a stronger regional cyber industry. “In order to increase our chances of catching perpetrators, we need to improve our capacity to attribute cyber attacks to those responsible,” it says. One specific issue it aims to address is to develop a European encryption capability using next generation quantum technologies as a basis for secure digital identification systems, intellectual property protections and safe ecommerce. The EU is looking to establish a “duty of care” principle for vendor product and software development in this arena and promised early in 2018 to put forward concrete proposals to give law enforcers cross-border access to electronic evidence. Another proposal calls for the creation of a European Cybersecurity Research and Competence Centre to co-ordinate proposed solutions, part of plans to strengthen the existing European Union Agency for Network and Information Security. The review, announced in May, is part of the EU’s mid-term course correction of its digital strategy. Some proposals must first be approved by member states and the European Parliament. The report aims to develop a policy framework to galvanise all parties, the EU, member states, industry, as well as citizens, to build better resilience and bolster the EU’s response to cyber attacks. “The framework constitutes a first step in developing signalling and reactive capacities at EU and member-state level with the aim of influencing the behaviour of potential aggressors,” it said of response to attacks by other nations.