Europol and the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA), Europe’s cyber security agency, signed an agreement on Thursday to enhance cooperation in the fight against cybercrime.
The goal of the agreement is to help European Union member states combat and prevent cybercrime by facilitating a closer cooperation between ENISA, Europol, and the European Cybercrime Center (EC3) at Europol.
The agencies will focus on the exchange of specific knowledge and expertise, the elaboration of general situational reports, strengthening capacity building via awareness raising and training, and compiling reports based on strategic analyses and best practice, ENISA and Europol said.
The organizations highlighted the fact that the agreement does not cover the exchange of personal data.
Until now, ENISA, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, and the EC3 have collaborated on projects such as the European Cybersecurity Month, the Cyber Europe exercises, and enhancing cooperation between law enforcement agencies and Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs). In addition, the have published a joint paper aimed at helping organizations mitigate botnets, and a “good practice guide” for CERTs.
“This agreement is an important step in the fight against ever more skilled cyber criminals who are investing more time, money and people on targeted attacks,” ENISA Executive Director, Professor Udo Helmbrecht, and Europol Director, Rob Wainwright, said in a joint statement on Thursday.
“Our agreement demonstrates that we are highly committed to jointly contributing within our respective areas of expertise, and to support each other’s work in the quest to make Europe a safer place online. Cybercrime is estimated to cost the global economy more than 400 billion dollars annually, by cooperating more closely together and sharing expertise, we strengthen Europe’s capacity to combat cyber criminals.”