According to a study published on Tuesday 8 July by Business Digital Index, which evaluates the digital transformation of businesses, two-thirds of the EU’s institutions are poorly or not at all prepared for the challenges posed by cybersecurity.
According to the analysis, 67% of the organisations evaluated scored D or F, the lowest security grades. “All institutions had experienced data breaches”, BDI explains.
“The current cybersecurity posture of EU organizations is deeply concerning and shouldn’t be taken lightly”, stresses the study, which shows that an institution’s state of preparedness is measured by the level of digital “hygiene” of its officials (varied and renewed passwords, protection against phishing and regular updates, among other things).
In a study published in May, the US company Cisco had already warned about the state of European cybersecurity and the delay by EU organisations in securing their software and networks against the resurgence of attacks (see EUROPE 13636/22).
From the EU’s perspective, the fight against these new forms of so-called ‘hybrid’ threats has been the subject of several announcements and initiatives in recent months, with the forthcoming revision of the cybersecurity regulation (see EUROPE 13620/13) and a new plan to improve the coordination of crisis management within the Union (see EUROPE 13596/19).
This is a challenge given the backlog of work accumulated by the institutions themselves.
See the BDI study: https://aeur.eu/f/hr4 (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)