Participants of the jubilee COSAC meeting of EU Member States’ parliamentary Committees on European Union Affairs and the European Parliament, held in Vilnius, discussed cyber-security challenges and prospects as well as benefits for business.

Rudolf Peter Roy, Head of the Security Policy and Sanctions Division of the European External Action Service, noted that information and communications technologies and related activities in recent years created over 20 % of GDP growth in the world’s largest economies.

However, the importance of the Internet goes far beyond its direct economic benefit. “Cyberspace helps us to achieve a better future. It provides access to education, promotes freedom of speech, it connects people worldwide and enables essential services. It acts as a global equaliser,” Mr Roy said.

According to the speaker, to fulfil a vision of a better future, we need cyberspace that is open, undivided and not controlled by any single entity. We also need trust, reliability and increased capacity in this man-made domain. While the digital world brings enormous benefits, it is also very vulnerable. Cyber-security incidents are increasing at an alarming pace.

“Such incidents can disrupt the supply of essential services we take for granted, such as water, electricity or mobile services,” Mr Roy said. According to him, the said incidents can have different origins: criminal, politically motivated or terrorist-sponsored attacks, natural disasters and unintentional mistakes. Therefore, it is necessary to reinforce security.

The Head of the Security Policy and Sanctions Division of the European External Action Service also informed the audience that the European Commission adopted the EU Cyber-Security Strategy. It highlights the imminent need to step up EU-wide preventive efforts in the area of cyber-security. The Strategy addresses the issue of how Member States can streamline their efforts in this field and what the EU institutions and agencies can do in order to assist them. It also seeks to improve horizontal co-operation between the different policy areas in the EU: strengthening cyber resilience, advancing EU cyberspace policy and dealing with CSDP-related cyber issues. In order to reinforce security of the cyberspace, Member States could create cyber-security lines, similar to the ones that exist in the field of nuclear energy.

While elaborating on the external dimension of the Cyber-Security Strategy, Mr Roy noted that one of the most important priorities of the EU in international cyber-security was to uphold its core values ​​in cyberspace, in particular the principle of freedom and openness.

“We will promote cyberspace as an area of freedom and fundamental rights. We will work towards the goal of everyone being able to have access to the Internet. We believe that increased global connectivity will advance democratic reforms worldwide. At the same time, we have to enhance the awareness of Internet users, their skills, we should further work on network security issues, and we should promote even more the European policy on privacy and data protection. We have to work together with all actors in cyberspace: companies, governments and civil society. What we need is a transparent and undivided model for the Internet,” Mr Roy said.

Saulė Eglė Trembo, Public Relations Unit, tel. +370 5 239 6203, e-mail: [email protected]