The EU has been putting in enormous efforts to create a new set of cyber nomenclature at the global level through a multilateral approach. This has justified its role as a prominent actor in the security landscape since 2003 in the field of unconventional security in general and cyber-security in particular. The European Union’s adoption of the European Security Strategy in 2003 made it more active in the field of security and crisis management. The EU has identified five major non-traditional threats, such as terrorism, organised crime, state failure, weapons of mass destruction and climate change in the ESS 2003. The EU became more resilient towards cyber security after the Estonia cyber-attack. In 2008, the review of ESS included cyber security as a major threat in the globalised world. 2009 onwards, the Commission has started to protect Europe from cyber attacks and disruptions actively. In November 2011, for the first time, a transatlantic cooperation came in place to accelerate their cyber security exercise and the Commission strengthened the European Public Private Partnerships for Resilience in 2012. The Commission (2012) emphases that the “cyber-security is a priority for Europe’s welfare and competitiveness” not only developing societies but also the developed societies of the Europe have to control the proliferation of cyber threats before becoming more vulnerable. The Union has shown strong commitments towards cyber diplomacy and security in subsequent years, but time has come for the EU to take a reality check on the effectiveness of that policy and programmes, Does EU secure enough? Do they have a common voice on cyber issues?
Key Words: Cyber Security, EU, Technology, Cyber Threats
Jayadev Parida (jayadevparida2009pir@gmail.com)
Jayadev Parida is a visiting Scholar, FU Berlin; a Ph.D. Research Scholar at Centre for European Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and a Cyber Security Researcher at Observer Research Foundation, India.