merrion street

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Mr Alan Shatter, T.D., today hosted, in association with the Estonian Ministry of Defence and the European Defence Agency, a conference aiming to advance preparedness to face cyber threats at national level and across the EU as a whole. The growth of cyber attacks on critical private, government and defence networks requires a coordinated response at the EU level and across Member States.

The Minister’s objectives for the Conference are:

a) Mainstream the issue of cyber security right across the EU and international crisis management frameworks;

b) Advance collaboration between the public and private sectors so as to protect critical services;

c) and advance training, education and public awareness of the existential Cyber threat.

The Minister stated that in his unique position as both Minister for Justice and Minister for Defence, “I see the opportunities and potential for facilitating a broader discussion and a comprehensive approach on the issue of Cyber Security and Defence”.

The Minister further outlined the growing cyber threat to all areas of our lives and stressed the need for cooperation between national law enforcement, defence and technical instant response organisations within and between Member States. “To fail to cooperate in the area of Cyber would be to undermine our collective security and to fail to understand the escalating threat that we face. We are stronger together and safer together. With that in mind lets insure that we work together”.

The Minister stressed the importance of investment in education and training in this area and each Member State must ensure they have sufficient qualified people in the areas of Computer Science and Information Systems.

The Conference has provided a unique opportunity to raise debate and discussion on the way forward as to how to handle the threats faced by cyber attacks across the EU. The Minister stressed the need for cooperation in the area of Cyber “The EU approach to this issue must also advance our efforts to promote international cooperation in cyber security beyond the EU”.

The Conference brought together key policy makers across the EU cyber community to highlight preventative measures, the need for cooperation and crisis response procedures to the mounting cyber security challenge.