At the moment, there is no single cybersecurity strategy for the entire European Union. However, the European Commission’s 2012 work program 20 states that the Commission will develop an Internet Security Strategy for the European Union. Strategy development is undertaken by the DG CONNECT Chief Directorate (DG INFSO21). The objectives of the project are as follows:
- Identify economic and geopolitical opportunities along with the main risks and problems.
- Compare among themselves the level of preparedness and political attention to the problem of Internet security in third countries.
- Identify the main and most important problems that need to be addressed.
- Assess current and planned activities, as well as mark those problem areas to which the EU should pay more attention.
- Cybersecurity strategy and Internet security strategy are slightly different things, although they have many similarities, such as defining and proposing an appropriate government model, focusing on preventing and combating security incidents.
In general, the task of the main directorate of DG CONNECT is to correctly place existing and planned events in a global political context. The Directorate will also prepare a roadmap looking ahead to offer the EU a comprehensive, holistic and structured approach to Internet security. 23 The competence of DG CONNECT alone will not be enough for the implementation of the project, which is why the Vice President of the European Commission, Neelie Kroes, has confirmed that the work on the project is being carried out in close cooperation with the Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström and the High Representative Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. 24
The need to propose and achieve an integrated and coordinated approach has been highlighted more than once: this was highlighted in the 2011 ENISA document “Cybersecurity: Future Challenges and Opportunities” 25, as well as in the House of Lords report to the EU Internal Security Strategy Council. 26