01 - NEWS
1. NEWS
6 September 2024 Your Action Needed for NCCs Stakeholder Survey on Digital Europe Programme
As part of our ongoing commitment to enhance and support the services provided by the National Coordination Centres, we invite you to take part in a short survey to help us better understand your needs, when it comes to cross-border collaboration, the awareness and role of the Digital Europe programme, coherence between national legislative efforts and related EU funded activities and to identify concrete benefits of EU intervention in cybersecurity. The survey will take only 5-10 minutes and it will be open from 30th of July until 30th of September.
6 September CYSSDE project: Financial support to third parties for pentest and vulnerability assessment activities
To bolster the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure organisations across Europe, the European Commission is rolling out a new initiative under the NIS2 and CER directives. The newly established CYSSDE consortium has been tasked with improving methodologies to identify and address vulnerabilities, backed by a substantial funding pool exceeding €4 million. To enhance cyber resilience and ensure compliance with NIS2, CER and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), the European Commission has mandated CYSSDE to conduct 230 penetration tests (pentests) on European companies. CYSSDE will manage a funding envelope of over €4 million to facilitate this. First calls shall be open in October. More information here.
6 September ECCO webinars: NIS2 Requirements and their implications for the EU Space Sector, Parental engagement in online privacy protection
The European Cyber Security Community Project (ECCO), in support of the ECCC, announces a new knowledge-sharing webinar focused on the implementation of the NIS2 Directive in the EU Space Sector, taking place on 27 September 2024 at 10:00 - 11:00. This online discussion is organised by the ECCO Community Group on Synergies in Cybersecurity for Civilian and Space Applications. This webinar aims to help organisations in the EU space sector navigate the new NIS2 Directive. This session will provide a comprehensive overview of the Directive, will analyse the differences between important and essential entities and the related consequences. Register here.
The European Cyber Security Community Project (ECCO), in support of the ECCC, announces a new knowledge-sharing webinar focused on parental engagement in online privacy protection, taking place on 16 September 2024, 11:15 - 12:15 CEST. This webinar will address the urgent and critical issue of protecting children's personal data in the digital age. Register here.
15 July 2024 - Save the date: EU Cybersecurity Certification Conference to be held in November
On 14 November 2024, the National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NÚKIB) in cooperation with the National Coordination Centre (NCC-CZ) is planning a conference on the topic of European cybersecurity certification. A presentation of the TEST-CERT-CZ project focused on building testing and certification capacities in the Czech Republic is expected. If you would like to receive updates on the event and be notified when registration officially opens, please fill out the form here. The conference will be held in Czech language.
11 July 2024 - Outputs from the ECCC Info Day in Brussels
The European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre (ECCC) organised an Info Day on 9 July 2024 in Brussels on the topic of the currently open calls in the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) in the field of cybersecurity. The event addressed the validation process, shared tips on how to write a successful project proposal and discussed the experience of managing DEP projects from the position of successful project coordinators. The role of National Coordinating Centres (NCCs) in the cybersecurity ecosystem was also discussed. The ECCC has now shared the outputs from the event (presentations and recordings) which are available on the ECCC website.
29 June 2024 - Representatives of the Network of National Coordination Centres and the ECCC met in Dublin
On 19-21 June, representatives of the Network of National Coordination Centres (NCCs) and members of the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre Governing Board met in Dublin, Ireland. During the meeting, the approaches of Member States to building NCCs were discussed, focusing on sharing best practices for the implementation of EU co-funded projects and the provision of financial support to third parties (FSTP). Furthermore, the activities of different ECCC working groups were presented and strategic priorities of the ECCC, including the draft Digital Europe Cybersecurity Work Programme for 2025-2027, were discussed. Press release here.
17 June 2024 – New open call for proposals under DEP Cybersecurity + ECCC Info Day
The European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre (ECCC) has published new calls under the Digital Europe Programme for Cybersecurity with a dedicated budget of EUR 102. The topics will be open from 4 July 2024 with a deadline for project applications in November 2024 or January 2025 depending on the topic. The topics focus on areas such as building national and cross-border Security Operation Centres (SOCs), supporting the implementation of EU legislation and the development and deployment of advanced key technologies. An overview of the calls is available under the EU funding tab, and further information is published on the Funding & Tender Opportunities portal. ECCC will organize an Info Day in Brussels on 9 July 2024, where the new funding opportunities will be presented. More info on registration is available here.
17 June 2024 – NÚKIB has published its first NCC-CZ call
On June 17th, NÚKIB has launched its first call for proposals of the National Coordination Centre (NCC-CZ). The call CyberResilience Boost: Promoting resilience against cyber threats allocates funding to support small pilot projects and initiatives that respond to the current and evolving needs of the Czech and European cybersecurity community. The main objective of the call is to foster collaboration between the academic and private sectors through projects and to strengthen resilience to cyber threats by achieving the sub-objectives formulated for each support area:
- Capacity development and skills development
- Promoting cross-sectoral and international cooperation
- Cybersecurity Awareness Raising
More information is available on NÚKIB website and in the FSTP tab.
2 April 2024 - Representatives of the Network of National Coordination Centres and members of the ECCC Governing Board met in San Sebastián, Spain
On 13-15 March 2024, representatives of the Network of National Coordination Centres (NCCs), members of the Governing board of the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre (ECCC) and representatives of the European Commission and the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) met in San Sebastián. During the meeting, the approaches of Member States to building NCCs were discussed, focusing on sharing best practices for the implementation of EU co-funded projects and the provision of financial support to third parties. Furthermore, the activities of the different ECCC working groups were presented and the strategic priorities of the ECCC were addressed in the context of the Strategic Agenda, which was adopted last year.
2 April 2024 - ECCC is looking for new EU cybersecurity experts
European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre (ECCC) is looking for experts knowledgeable in different cybersecurity fields to register in a database. Their role would be to assess applications for funding, monitor ongoing projects and contracts and provide opinions and advice on specific topics. Further information on the role, fees paid for the services and a model contract are provided here, together with a link to register. The full text of the call for expression of interest is available in the Funding & Tenders Portal. Alternatively, interested parties can use this contact email address CNECT-ECCC-EVALUATIONS@ec.europa.eu.
10 January 2024 – New open call for proposals under
DEP
The European Commission has published new calls under the Digital Europe Programme with a total allocation of €84 million. The calls will open on 16 January 2024 and close on 26 March 2024. Activities related for example to the post-quantum cryptography, use of artificial intelligence in Security Operation Centres (SOCs) and implementation of the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) can be supported. An overview of the calls is available under the EU Funding tab, more information is published on the European Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal.
10 January 2024 – European Commission has adopted the amendment of the DEP WPs for 2024
The European Commission has adopted the amended work programmes for 2024 for the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) outlining the objectives and specific topic areas that will receive more than €760 million in funding. The main WP covers specific deployment projects that use digital technologies (supercomputers, AI, cloud, advanced digital skills), implementation of Digital Decade multi-county projects including opportunities for European Digital Infrastructure Consortia (EDICs) and activities related to the implementation of AI Act. The Cybersecurity WP will provide support for the implementation of EU legislation (NIS2 Directive, CRA) with a focus on supporting SMEs, mutual assistance between EU member states and National Coordination Centres. Both WPs specify the planned calls including the expected allocation and timetable. However, changes may occur until the calls are published on the F&T Portal together with the call document.
21 November 2023 – The European Commission has opened three new calls focusing on skills
Today, the European Commission opened three new topics under the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) with a deadline for project applications of 21 March 2024, namely:
- DIGITAL-2023-SKILLS-05-SPECIAL-PROGEDU Specialised education programmes in key capacity areas - Advanced digital skills analysis (Type of action: Coordination and Support Actions)
- DIGITAL-2023-SKILLS-05-CYBERACADEMY Cybersecurity Skills Academy (Type of action: Simple Grants)
- DIGITAL-2023-SKILLS-05-SPECIALEDU Specialised education programmes in key capacity areas (Type of action: Lump Sum Grants)
On 11-13 October 2023, representatives of the Network of National Coordination Centres (NCCs), members of the Governing board of the European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Competence Centre (ECCC) and representatives of the European Commission and the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) met in Athens. During the meeting, the progress in building the ECCC in Bucharest and the NCCs in each Member State was discussed and the outputs of the ECCC working groups were also presented, focusing on issues such as building the European Competence Community and implementing the ECCC Strategic Agenda. The main outcome of the meeting was the election of the ECCC Director, Mr. Luca Tagliaretti.