The “2024 Report on the State of Cybersecurity in the (European) Union” is the first report from the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) that provides an overall index of cybersecurity among its member nations. “The EU Cybersecurity Index scored an average of 62.65/100, reflecting progress but highlighting gaps, particularly in vulnerability disclosure and R&D efforts. Critical sectors like telecommunications, energy, and finance show high maturity, while others like healthcare and oil lag in preparedness,” according to the report.
The report comes as the EU moves against member states that have failed to meet deadlines for adopting new cybersecurity standards.
One element of the report that struck us is what’s missing: A discussion of the role of cyber insurance in improving cybersecurity.
European Cybersecurity Landscape
The report is designed to provide European policy makers, security officials and the private sector with an overview of the European cybersecurity landscape and recommendations to address shortcomings. Among other findings, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) reports critical sectors like telecommunications, energy, and finance show high maturity in cybersecurity, while others like the healthcare and oil sectors lag. Recommended steps for EU countries can be seen in the graphic below:
Americans who follow cybersecurity will identify with many of the core security challenges noted by ENISA. Among the challenges specific to the EU is the complexity of coordinating cybersecurity policies with 27 different countries and the EU bureaucracy, as demonstrated by the failure of most EU countries to meet deadlines for adopting EU cyber guidelines. It takes two full pages of the report just to list the abbreviations for EU cybersecurity regulations and entities.
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