Parliament can decide on mandatory reporting of cyber attacks

The Federal Council on Friday approved the notice amending the federal law on information security at the federal level and forwarded it to the federal parliament. According to a statement, the consultation showed “broad support for the proposal”. The introduction of a reporting obligation is seen as an important step towards improving cyber security in Switzerland.

The Bundesrat wants to introduce the reporting obligation “as unbureaucratically as possible” and “without much extra effort”, as he writes. The National Center for Cyber ​​Security (NCSC), which is intended as a central reporting point for cyber attacks, has come up with an electronic report form. As a result, reports can be easily recorded and, if desired, forwarded directly to other departments.

According to the Federal Council, the population, governments and companies are exposed to the risk of a cyber attack on a daily basis. There is currently no overview of which attacks took place where, because reports to the NCSC were only made on a voluntary basis. Due to the notification obligation, all operators of critical infrastructures must in future participate in the exchange of information and thus contribute to early warning.

Last year, some 22,000 cases of cybercrime were reported to the NCSC, about twice as many as in 2020. However, many of the reported incidents are recognized attempted attacks and not successful attacks.

The Federal Council established the NCSC in 2019, which is currently located in the General Secretariat of the Federal Ministry of Finance (FDF). Given the growing importance of cyber security, the Federal Council wants to set up a separate federal office for this.

(SDA)