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EU commission and Member States conduct large-scale cyber-attacks simulation for enhanced preparedness

Senior cybersecurity representatives from EU Member States, the Commission, and the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) took part this week in a two-day ‘Blueprint Operational Level Exercise’, or Blue OLEx 2023, to test EU preparedness in the event of a cyber-related crisis.

photo of a computer screen and a yellow triangle with text system hacked

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This exercise was organised within the framework of the European Cyber Crisis Liaison Organisation Network, or ‘EU-CyCLONe’.

The EU CyCLONe network contributes to the implementation of the Commission's Blueprint for rapid emergency response in case of a large-scale cross-border cyber incident or crisis. It complements the existing cybersecurity structures at EU level by linking the cooperation at technical level, through the Computer Security Incident Response Team, and the political level, for example through the Integrated Political Crisis Response, the EU crisis response mechanism that supports rapid and coordinated political level decision-making for major and complex crises.

Furthermore, the participants discussed strategic cyber policy issues, in particular, how to shape a coherent framework for crisis management at EU level.

Launched in 2020, the EU CyCLONe network was formally established by the Directive on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS2 Directive) in January 2023.

More information on the EU cybersecurity strategy