A new EU Cyber Solidarity Act has been proposed by the European Commission with an aim to raise awareness of and help detect cybersecurity threats. The proposal, adopted on 18 April 2023, is also intended to increase the cybersecurity preparedness of what the Commission terms “critical entities”.

According to the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, “Today marks the proposal of a European cyber shield. To effectively detect, respond, and recover from large-scale cybersecurity threats, it is imperative that we invest substantially and urgently in cybersecurity capabilities. The Cyber Solidarity Act is a critical milestone in our journey towards achieving this objective.”
Alongside the proposal for the Cyber Solidarity Act, the Commission also announced a Cybersecurity Skills Academy and an amendment to the Cybersecurity Act. The Academy, part of the 2023 European Year of Skills, will combine existing initiatives via an online platform to tackle the cybersecurity skills gap in a coordinated way. The Cybersecurity Act amendment will make it possible to adopt certification schemes for “managed security services” such as incident response, auditing, and penetration testing.
More information is available on the website of the European Commission.