European security agencies discuss cooperation on cyber security

Officials of four key European agencies dealing with security and defense met on Wednesday to discuss cooperative opportunities in the field of cyber security, the European Defence Agency (EDA) said in a press release.

The executive directors of the European Union(EU) agency for network and information security, Europol's European cybercrime center, the EU institutions' permanent computer emergency response team and the EDA attended the meeting at the EDA premises.

In his opening remarks, EDA chief executive Jorge Domecq recalled that the EU cyber defence policy framework, adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council in 2014, explicitly encouraged the four agencies to enhance their cooperation.

"In the spirit of the EU Global Strategy and its implementation plan on security and defence, EU entities need to think cross-sectoral. We need to joint forces where appropriate in order to anticipate the security challenges and adapt to Member States' expectations," Domecq stated.

The aim of the meeting was not yet to agree on a list of concrete projects to work on but to brainstorm and discuss possible options for future cooperation, according to the press release.

A joint task force was set up to further discuss ideas exchanged at the meeting. It will provide a report by spring 2017 on concrete recommendations for cooperation projects. Endit