On 7 February 2013, the European Commission published two cybersecurity documents designed to provide a comprehensive vision of how European Union Member States, national authorities, and private industry will prevent and respond to cyber disruptions and attacks. The Cybersecurity Strategy is aimed at harmonizing national authorities of EU Member States to improve cyber resilience and reduce cybercrime while advancing cyberdefence policy and industrial and technical resources for cybersecurity. The European Commission has concluded that the current “voluntary approach” governing private market participants’ responses to cyber incidents is no longer acceptable and has resolved, through an impact assessment, that a regulatory regime is necessary in specific critical sectors. The proposed Directive on Network and Information Security, if implemented, would impose significant regulatory hurdles on a host of private entities, including providers of banking, energy, transport, health, Internet, social media, e-commerce, and cloud computing services.

Overview of the European Commission’s Cybersecurity Strategy -

To safeguard an online environment with both freedom and security, the Cybersecurity Strategy is focused on five strategic priorities...

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