1st ECYSAP NEWSLETTER
February 2023
ECYSAP is the largest Cyber Situational Awareness (CSA) project for European Defence. CSA and defence capabilities, military networks and technologies for secure communication and information sharing will increase overall EU resilience. This means understanding what threats on the cyber domain are, the potential impact a cyber-attack will have, and the steps required to reduce risk and prevent them. Nowadays, cyber-attacks could be as harmful to our societies as conventional attacks. Critical infrastructure is an attractive target, and the risk of attacks is expected to continue to increase in the future, therefore EU is building robust and resilient cyber operational capabilities. Armed forces increasingly rely on the ability to operate in cyberspace across the entire spectrum of cyber operations. A consortium led by Indra with partners from Spain, France, Italy and Estonia is developing this platform, enhancing EU Defence capabilities through fast identification of attacks and threats on the cyberspace, responding to them and providing support for decision-making.
‘’To be up to the challenges and threats ahead of us, we need modern and interoperable European armed forces equipped with the latest cyber defence capabilities’’.
Josep Borrel.
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The main objective of the ECYSAP project is to develop and implement of innovative theoretical foundations, methods and research prototypes integrated towards providing a European operational platform for enabling high maturity real-time Cyber Situational Awareness (CSA) for military end-users, capable of cyber response, automated and deployable in the same area of operations (National/European) interconnected between envisaged and identified intelligent nodes.
Ambitious CSA project enters next pase: ECYSAP is at the forefront of the next European Defence.
The rise in cyber threats and the potential significant impact of a cyber-attack have highlighted the importance of providing military end-users with defensive and decision-making capabilities. The European Defence Agency has recently signed a new implementing contract with the industrial consortium, led by Indra. To increase European CSA, EDA is supporting four EU States as the project manager of the ECYSAP project. The contract is an important step forward for the project, as it implements contributing Member States’ co-financing of the ECYSAP action launched under the EDIDP.
New EU cyber defence policy.
On November 2022, the European Commission and the High Representative put forward a Joint Communication on an EU Cyber Defence policy and an Action Plan on Military Mobility 2.0 to address the deteriorating security environment following Russia's aggression against Ukraine. According to the EDA, the new EU Policy on Cyber Defence ‘’will enhance efficient cyber crisis management within the EU and help reduce our strategic dependencies in critical cyber technologies, while strengthening the European Defence Technological Industrial Base (EDTIB). It will also stimulate training, attracting, and retaining cyber talents and step up cooperation with our partners in the field of cyber defence’’.
Defence innovation to protect Europeans
The need to respond together to new security challenges has become clearer in Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thinking collectively about a new EU defence framework necessarily involves building a robust cyber defence policy, which must include disrupting tech companies and innovation hubs in the defence sector. As cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure poses an increasing risk to both civilian and military actors, there are also growing calls for more measures to protect citizens.
Building long-term professional relationships between the military and civilian cyber communities implies reinforcing coordination mechanisms among them to boost and secure information sharing. Retaining cyber talent is also a major challenge today. In this context, increasing defence investment is critical. The raising in military budgets, -recently, European defence spending surpassed €200 billion for first time-, should be seen as an essential step to address current capability deficits, defence industrial gaps and shortfalls, leading to develop cutting-edge solutions on time.
’Cyber-attacks are often part of wider hybrid campaign, cross-border in nature and may have an impact on civil and defence system and infrastructure (…) We are facing more hybrid attacks, therefore better cooperation between civil, security and defence communities, improves our ability to act together and ensure the EU security’’.
Margaritis Schinas.
Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life.
