Technological revolutions bring opportunities, but sometimes even greater threats. This ‘paradox of progress’ affects cyberspace and threatens the very principle and foundation of the open internet. The global debate on cyber-governance is currently in a stalemate on the norms for global stability of cyberspace and the fight against cybercrime, although the EU is making considerable efforts to strengthen cyberspace resilience and the critical information infrastructure. The author argues that the newly proposed Cybersecurity Act should be supported by additional measures to increase awareness, devise smarter policy and enable effective governance. Too many users and businesses are still failing to take cybersecurity and computer hygiene seriously. And there is a need to strengthen the pan-European coordination of deterrence, detection, and defence. This paper looks at the possibilities for the EU in this domain and argues that at a time of American diplomatic and political retrenchment from Europe and the world, it has an opportunity to play a leading role in global cybersecurity policy and governance.

Lorenzo Pupillo is Associate Senior Research Fellow at CEPS and Head of the Cybersecurity@CEPS Initiative.

No. of pages: 8