back to article European Commission proposes more powers for EU's infosec agency

The European Commission has proposed an expansion in the role of ENISA, the EU's cybersecurity agency. During his State of the Union speech on Wednesday, Jean-Claude Juncker outlined plans to widen ENISA's remit through a Cybersecurity Act. Under a revised mandate, ENISA would be tasked with introducing an EU-wide …

  1. Len
    Thumb Up

    Extension instead of duplication

    I am glad to hear this is about extending the remit of ENISA instead of creating a separate agency to take on this role. When I first heard about this it sounded more like the latter.

    I don't really know why Claus Cramon Houman would consider Crete as a location "not optimal at all". Having to live on Crete could hardly be considered a punishment and because it is also a popular holiday destination it will have plenty of good flight connections with most of the rest of the EU (something that will have played a big role in Greece's nomination for Crete as the location for the agency).

    As for the daily work, that will mostly be done over the internet anyway so location won't matter that much. Unless he thinks it will be helpful if it would be in the same building as Europol in The Hague.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Extension instead of duplication

      I don't really know why Claus Cramon Houman would consider Crete as a location "not optimal at all".

      Perhaps as much a comment on the stability and security of Greece as a host country, as of it's physical location on a holiday island largely surrounded by hostile middle-eastern states

      1. Len

        Re: Extension instead of duplication

        Unless you think any of those countries will send missiles to Crete (and thereby attacking a NATO member) I think physical proximity does not matter that much. It is not as if all connections from Crete have to pass through hostile states.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Extension instead of duplication

          Do you believe a cyberattack can't disable Crete infrastructure (also it looks all the underwater cables connecting it arrives in a single location) much more easily than a structure positioned where multiple big links are available?

          If it was because of Middle.East missiles danger, Azores would have been a better place....

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Extension instead of duplication

      How much would take to cut Crete out of the Internet? Crete is a wonderful place (I would really like to spend some time there waiting for certification...), but maybe not for a cybersecurity center.

      Also schedules for touristic flights may not match very well business needs.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        ENISA also has

        a contact centre in Athens, according to the press there, for both resilience and business needs.

        put your cable-cutters away!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Extension instead of duplication

      @Len "I don't really know why Claus Cramon Houman would consider Crete as a location "not optimal at all"

      The lack of an available talent pool to draw on would be a massive problem. Whilst living on Crete might be very nice getting your wife and children to move there would not be an option to many. Also if the job didn't work out there aren't as yet any other infosec employers there to work for so you would need to relocate back home. Consequently working for them there would be a high risk strategy and infosec bods understand risk so would need to be paid top money to compensate.

  2. Brenda McViking

    "Not optimal" depends on what you're optimising for.

    If it's the feel-good-factor of the people working for said agency and those working on it's funded programmes and attending all-expenses-paid conferences, then it probably is pretty optimal.

    If it's looking at value for money for your average EU taxpayer, it's distinctly sub-optimal. Regulators & think tanks ought to be phycsially close to those they regulate and think-for. In the infosec sphere, I'm fairly sure that isn't a Greek Island mostly known for holidaymaking, and rather more next door to Steve Bong in silicon roundabout, Shoreditch...

    1. Len

      I hear what you are saying but the EU does not have one tech centre so any location you choose would mean that it is not close to 95% of its stakeholders. The most obvious alternative location would probably have been The Hague to be near the European Cybercrime Centre, although that is a body of Europol and therefore has a law enforcement focus.

      For obvious reasons the UK will not have any internal EU agencies soon and I don't know if the UK has put in a bid to host the agency when ENISA was formed.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        >The most obvious alternative location would probably have been The Hague

        It's about decentralization - sticking everything in the Hague is not in the interest of the wider EU. European Cybercrime Centre is a coordination hub for the member state's domestic agencies only has 50 or so staff.

        Crete has pretty good connectivity already, and all major EU cities/rail/road have 5G/gigabit targets to meet over the next 3 to 8 years. The EU is pumping billions into Greece for public infrastructure over this period (also to meet the global 100mbps domestic speed by 2025 target) because of the geographic challenges.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yay another bloody standard to comply with. No doubt based on ISO27k like all the rest but just different enough to be a pain in the arse.

  4. Wolfclaw

    Jolly Boys Outing

    Just an excuse for EU dictatorship to have a free holiday, oh so we put ENISA in Cyprus and oh look, we need to have conference on cyber security ... get the sun tan lotion and beach towels out and the access to the free bar????

  5. EnviableOne

    Crete

    based on the distribution of European centres of excelence, Berlin or prague would probably be better, and their connections to the world internet are better too

    Greece is also due to debt levels on the verge of being kkicked from the EU too

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