What security lessons can the EU learn from the massive IT outage?

Copyright Thibault Camus/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.

By Amandine Hess
Published on 19/07/2024 - 

The European Union had previously made attempts to strengthen cybersecurity through a directive in 2022.

Worldwide havoc was wrought following a massive outage after a defect in a software update by cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike on Friday.

Hospitals, banks, broadcasters and airports were all impacted after an issue with the software prevented them from accessing Microsoft apps and services.

Nathalie Devillier, an expert at the EU European Cyber Competence Centre, spoke with Euronews on the lessons that could be drawn from it.

 necessary to question the location of your cloud and IT security providers," she said.

"Both should be in the European space so as not to rely on foreign technology solutions that, as we can see today, have impacts on our machines, on our servers, on our data every day."

Companies and individuals should also be better trained on cybersecurity, Devillier said.

In the last few years the European Union has made attempts to strengthen the bloc's cybersecurity.

In 2022 it passed a directive which must now be adopted by its member states to strengthen cybersecurity in more than 18 sectors, Devillier told Euronews.

She explained that this meant companies, both large and small, will need to become more digitally vigilant.

And the EU Agency for Cybersecurity said it was aware of the incident which had affected so many across Europe.

"ENISA is in continuous contact with EU member states to understand the impact and follow-up with actions if requested to do so," said Hans de Vries, the agency's Chief Cybersecurity and Operating Officer.