European Cybersecurity Taxonomy 2019

The digitisation of services provided by the public and private sectors brings opportunities for growth and prosperity but also increased cyber risks that must be prioritised to protect against societal and economic impacts from cyber-attacks, potentially of huge proportions. 

The European Union and its Member States are making significant investments in cybersecurity capacity building and competitiveness as a fundamental enabler of the Digital Single Market (DSM). One of the priorities is the creation of a European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre with a Network of National Coordination Centres (COM/2018/630). 

Four pilot competence centres (CONCORDIA, ECHO, SPARTA, CyberSec4Europe) are part of the drive towards building such capacities necessary for securing the DSM and increasing the competitiveness of Europe's cybersecurity industry. 

This JRC Technical Report: A proposal for a European Cybersecurity Taxonomy was driven by the clear need for a globally accepted and standardised definition of cybersecurity and its fields of application as a cross-disciplinary domain. The taxonomy has been reviewed by the four competence pilots with a view to ensuring that: 

• It can be used by EC cybersecurity initiatives.
• It becomes a reference point for cybersecurity activities across research, industry, marketing, operations, training and education in the DSM and by all sectors.
• It can be used to index cybersecurity research entities, e.g. research institutes and centres, institutions of higher education in Europe.
• It meets compliance with international cybersecurity standards. 
• It becomes sustainable, easily modified and extended. 

PANACEA perspectives: The technical report defines "Health" as the companies related to the manufacturing of medical devices (e.g., implantable medical devices), the pharmaceutical industry, as well as healthcare settings, including hospital and private clinics. It also comprises the activities regarding the monitoring of chronic diseases and elderly people based on the integration of new technologies in the healthcare ecosystem (e.g. smart health).

Lookout Watch entry date: 06.12.2019