The Ministry of Home Affairs brings together European experts in Madrid to strengthen collaboration on cybersecurity within the EU

Over 30 European experts from around 20 European Union countries are meeting this Monday in Madrid, in person and by videoconference, to make progress in improving operational coordination in the fight against cybercrime, at a conference organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs' Cybersecurity Coordination Office (OCC) within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.

"In this globalised society, increasingly interconnected and dependent on information and communication technologies, cybersecurity must be a priority," said Rafael Pérez, Spanish Secretary of State for Security, in his opening speech at the "Conference on the current situation of the 24/7 network of Directive 2013/40/EU on attacks against information systems and other forms of international exchange of information on cybercrime".

Participants at the conference, which will close on Tuesday, will discuss the implementation of Directive 2013/40, "a pioneering regulation that harmonised criminal legislation in the EU on attacks against information systems and improved cooperation between authorities and specialised cybersecurity bodies", Pérez stated during his speech.

The Spanish Secretary of State encouraged participants and speakers to take advantage of the conference to reflect on the current status of the directive's operation and the advisability of strengthening it, implementing coordination mechanisms with other information exchange platforms or integrating it into one of these.

Pérez advocated continuing to improve the information exchange channels between European and national bodies involved in cybersecurity, "which are becoming increasingly agile, useful, secure, effective and efficient", in order to facilitate the fight against cybercrime. "Solo actions run the risk of becoming futile efforts that only lead to frustration and inefficient expenditure of resources," Perez added.

In addition to cybersecurity experts from EU countries and the European Commission, the conference was also attended by national representatives from the judiciary and public prosecutors' offices, as well as from the EU agencies for cybersecurity (Enisa) and for police cooperation (Europol). On the Spanish side, members of the Department of National Security, the National Police and Civil Guard, the National Cryptologic Centre (CCN), the National Institute of Cybersecurity (Incibe) and the Joint Cyberspace Command (MCCE) participated.

Non official translation