EU seeks sustained effort against cyberattacks

European Union Security Commissioner, Julian King has warned that the European Union (EU) must boost its defences against cyberattacks, which have fallen behind the modern world’s reliance on the Internet and mobile devices.

The security chief, said Brussels will give 10.8 million euros ($12 million) to 14 EU countries to boost their cyber response teams following this week’s massive global cyberattack.

He said,“We’re living through an attack right now. That attack, the recent WannaCry attack and other recent attacks, serve graphically to illustrate that the cyber threats we face are growing very seriously.

“Our current dependence on the Internet and connected devices and technology is at the moment currently greater than our ability to protect ourselves, and we need to do something about that,” King informed reporters.

The latest series of cyberattacks began in Ukraine on Tuesday, hitting government and corporate computer systems across the world, as the so-called Petya Virus, spread to Western Europe and across the Atlantic.

The European Union Security Commissioner said that cyberattacks were becoming “more strategic, because they endanger critical infrastructure and indeed our democratic processes.”

Aside the extra funding for national cyber response centres, he added that there should also be extra support for the EU police agency Europol’s cybercrime department.

Europol recently described the latest cyberattacks as similar to last month’s WannaCry ransomware havoc but “more sophisticated”.

NATO also warned that cyberattacks could potentially trigger the 29-nation military alliance’s mutual defence guarantee, while making a similar call to strengthen cyber defences.

By Tony Nwakaegho