The European Union and threats to IT security - an outline of the issue

Abstract

Harmful activities on the Internet are a growing threat to national and international security in the 21st century. These issues are therefore becoming increasingly important not only for individual states, but also for international organizations such as the European Union, which combines the most digitalized societies in the world. Despite the fact that a European cyber security policy was already initiated in 2004, the EU’s attempts were usually quite outdated. A major breakthrough took place in 2007, after the ‘first cyber war’ in Estonia. Afterwards, Brussels’ efforts went in two directions. On the one hand, the European Commission’s activities were aimed at finding proper political, juridical and procedural solutions to cyber threats. On the other hand, the EU was interested in developing close cooperation with member states, as well as with the international environment. Unfortunately, most of the initiatives undertaken by the European Commission were still lagging behind the global standards set by the United States or the Atlantic Alliance. This situation changed only in 2012, when the EU undertook some important actions. First of all, a CERT-EU team was finally set up. Furthermore, the Commission declared that the funding o f cyber security research would be increased by 14% in the future. And finally, ENISA undertook several important projects aimed at increasing cyber security awareness in Europe. These efforts, however, are not sufficient to fight the contemporary challenges arising from cyber space. This is why, in the future, in order to secure its political, social and economic development, the European Union will need to create a proper cyber security strategy.