The EU wants to better prepare for hacker attacks from Russia and Co

With new cybersecurity rules, hospitals, power plants, airports and electricity grids in the European Union (EU) must be better prepared for digital threats such as hacker attacks in the future.

Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU countries agreed, among other things, that in the future there will be a so-called Cyber ​​security alert system must be set up, as the EU states and parliament announced in Brussels on Wednesday evening.

These are institutions that must detect cyber threats, respond to them and exchange information. This would allow authorities and responsible bodies to respond more efficiently to major incidents.

With AI against elite hackers

The regulation also stipulates that particularly important facilities such as hospitals or power plants – i.e.: Critical infrastructures – are examined for possible vulnerabilities should.

Moreover, one must European certification system for security services are being created. This is intended to increase confidence in providers of cybersecurity services.

The agreement on the regulation is based on a proposal from the European Commission. Accordingly, cyber threats must be identified and reported in a timely manner using artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics.

Billion dollar project

The Commission estimated the cost of the measures of the so-called EU Cybersolidarity Act at 1.1 billion euros.

Increasingly frequent and consequential cybersecurity incidents pose a threat to the European internal market, the Commission said. “Russian military aggression against Ukraine has further exacerbated this threat,” the authority said when the project was presented almost a year ago. This goes hand in hand with a large number of “state, criminal and hacktivist actors” involved in the current geopolitical tensions.

The European Parliament and EU countries still have to confirm the agreement, which in most cases is only a formality.

(dsc/sda/dpa)