You are here
How cybercrime affects our society: AmCham EU invited to speak at European Parliament
22 Mar 2018
On Tuesday, 20 March, AmCham EU participated in a hearing hosted by Anneleen Van Bossuyt MEP, Chair of the European Parliament Internal Market Committee (IMCO), on the impact of cybercrime on our society in the European Parliament.
In her opening remarks, MEP Van Bossuyt spoke about the need to ensure the digital environment is sufficiently protected against cybercrime in context of a threefold increase in cyberattacks since 2015. These attacks not only threaten vital infrastructure in transport, healthcare and financial services but also undermine the integrity of our democracy.
This position was echoed by Philippe Van Linthout, investigating judge and cybercrime expert, who raised the numerous challenges Member State authorities face in combating cybercrime. Mr Van Linthout called for deeper collaboration with the US government to pave the way for a more harmonised international approach.
The European Commission perspective was provided by Jacub Boratynski, Head of Unit for Cybersecurity & Digital Privacy at DG Connect, who promoted the Cybersecurity Act and EU certificates to increase cyber resilience of certain products, services and processes. He further stressed that ENISA should be at the core of the certification procedure with a strong involvement of industry.
Offering a view from industry, Christoph Luykx, EMEA Director of Government Relations at CA Technologies, and Vice-Chair of AmCham EU Digital Economy Committee, emphasised the need to clarify the scope of the regulation, together with the role of standards and the governance process. He also raised that third-party certification, although an important tool, cannot be the silver bullet as it remains a costly and lengthy process.