Brussels, 14/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The commissioner for the digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, visited the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) offices in Athens for the first time on 9 January 2014. The aim of the visit was to obtain an overview of the agency's operations and to learn more of the work programme for 2014. On that occasion, Kroes welcomed the work done by ENISA and underlined its importance for combating cyber-crime. She said: “The work of ENISA is more important than ever. I urge governments and companies to cooperate with ENISA's experts in 2014 to build trust in their services. For many, that will involve catching up with global best practices”. ENISA Executive Director Udo Helmbrecht, for his part, welcomed the positive changes brought about by the opening of the ENISA office in Athens on 1 March 2013. He said: “ENISA can now be more effective and more flexible. This is excellent news for cyber security in Europe. In 2014, we will be working more closely with our cyber security prevention and preparedness work with the EU, the member states and Europol”.
In 2014, ENISA will look at the prospects of the political context and at the technical developments on cyber-security in Europe and in the world, as well as at the role it is to play in this respect. The agency will continue to share its experience of incident reporting and support the computer emergency response teams (CERTs), national centres for early response to IT attacks, responsible for fending off cyber-attacks. ENISA also plans to tackle the security aspects of smart infrastructure (i.e. smart grids, smart cities and smart homes), the use of information security services for protecting personal and private data, and cloud computing. The agency will continue to work on resilience and cyber security cooperation and prepare for the next “European Cyber-Security Month” (ECSM), an event inaugurated in 2013 in several countries and intended to make citizens more aware of cybernetic security. (IL/transl.jl)