According to the European Commission, incidents related to cyber-attacks increased from 432 in 2019 to 756 in 2020. Focusing on recent ransomware incidents which affected critical services in the US and Ireland, the EU Commission plans to create a dedicated team of multi-national cyber-experts that can be quickly deployed to the country in times of severe attacks.
Ransomware hackers can steal critical data by using malicious software, forcing victims to pay hefty amounts if they want their services back to normal. The US has formed a similar Ransomware Task Force as cyber-attacks caused panic buying and fuel shortage.
According to the European Commission, the ongoing attack on Ireland’s health service is another indication of how cyber-attacks are becoming a matter of national security. A ransomware group known as Conti scrambled the IT systems of the Health Service Executive in Ireland, causing significant problems in numerous hospitals.
According to HSE chief Paul Reid, the system will take months to be fixed and have immense financial costs as well as “human costs.”
According to Theirry Breton, EU commissioner for the internal market, the Joint Cyber Unit’s rapid reaction could help in such crises. He stated that the unit would help by “deploying very quickly a dedicated team which we don’t have the capacity to do now. We know that the longer you wait the worse it is, so faster and more solidarity is what you can expect.”
He emphasised that the new unit will not duplicate work or compete with the national cyber-entities. The Joint Cyber Unit aims to be operational by June 2022 and be fully established by 30 June 2023.
