The explosion of cybercrime has induced the Europeans to organize themselves. Elly Van Den Heuvel, Secretary of the Dutch Cyber Security Council, believes that cooperation and information sharing are crucial elements of cybersecurity.
“Cybersecurity contributes to the development of a free, stable and prosperous environment within the European Union. That’s why it is crucial that all countries start collaborating,” says Elly Van Den Heuvel. However, according to the Secretary of the Dutch Cyber Security Council, the current institutions and organizations fighting against cybercrime are simply the first stage of the apparatus that needs to be put in place.
Improving the coordination to be more effective
The main obstacle to the construction of European cybersecurity consists in the plurality of actors. Different EU countries have taken pertinent and effective actions, “what we need now is for them to get to know each other and learn how to join forces”. To that end, it would be useful to define a common set of goals to pursue. Europe still lacks a real vision of the policy it needs to implement, and also a real leader.
The IoT: a very real threat
Europe must organize itself. One of the challenges is the generalization of the concept of Privacy by design, that would support the development of the IoT and guarantee millions of soon to be interconnected devices. “We are engaged in an endless competition. We need to be realistic and join our forces for a safer future; we have to continue our efforts,” concludes Elly Van Den Heuvel.
