This week, MEPs have met to discuss the future of cybersecurity and have put into place new rules that companies must now meet.
Companies that will be effected include health care, finance, banking, transport, water and energy. These sectors must be robust enough to withstand cyber-attacks under the new rules provisionally agreed by internal market MEPs and the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers.
Andreas Schwab, Parliament's rapporteur, said, "we have agreed on first ever EU-wide cyber-security rules, which the Parliament has advocated for years. Member states will have to cooperate more on cybersecurity – which is even more important in light of the current security situation in Europe."
The MEPs will be ruling that essential service companies should be ready for cyber attacks and report any serious security beaches. Some online service providers such as online marketplaces, search engines, and clouds will also join in with the exception of micro and small digital companies.
The draft rules will set out best practices to exchange information, draw up guidelines, and assist member states in cybersecurity building. Alongside all the activity, a group of Computer Security Incidents Response Teams will be set up to handle incidents and coordinated responses with the aim to make security incidents caused by human mistakes, technical failures or malicious attacks will be a thing of the past.