Europol on Monday announced the adoption of a new protocol for how law enforcement authorities in the European Union and beyond will respond to major cross-border cyberattacks.
The new EU Law Enforcement Emergency Response Protocol should prove useful in case of major attacks such as the ones involving WannaCry and NotPetya malware, which in 2017 hit hundreds of thousands of systems around the world and caused significant losses for many organizations.
The new protocol, adopted by the Council of the EU, is part of the EU’s Blueprint for Coordinated Response to Large-Scale Cross-Border Cybersecurity Incidents and Crises, and it will be implemented by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3). It focuses on rapid assessment, sharing of information, and coordination of the international aspects of an investigation.
The protocol only covers malicious and criminal cyber incidents — Europol highlighted that it does not cover incidents caused by natural disasters or ones resulting from human error or system failure. Its goal is to complement existing crisis management mechanisms.
The protocol has seven main components: early detection and identification of a major cyberattack, classification of the threat, establishing a coordination center for emergency response, early warning notifications, an operational action plan for law enforcement, investigation of the incident, and emergency response protocol closure.
“The EU Law Enforcement Emergency Response Protocol determines the procedures, roles and responsibilities of key players both within the EU and beyond; secure communication channels and 24/7 contact points for the exchange of critical information; as well as the overall coordination and de-confliction mechanism,” Europol said.
Related: Europol, Diebold Nixdorf to Share Information on Cyber Threats
Related: Europol Creates Dark Web Investigations Team
Related: Hackers Linked to Luminosity RAT Targeted by Law Enforcement

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
More from Eduard Kovacs
- Unpatched Econolite Traffic Controller Vulnerabilities Allow Remote Hacking
- Google Fi Data Breach Reportedly Led to SIM Swapping
- Microsoft’s Verified Publisher Status Abused in Email Theft Campaign
- British Retailer JD Sports Discloses Data Breach Affecting 10 Million Customers
- Meta Awards $27,000 Bounty for 2FA Bypass Vulnerability
- Industry Reactions to Hive Ransomware Takedown: Feedback Friday
- US Reiterates $10 Million Reward Offer After Disruption of Hive Ransomware
- Hive Ransomware Operation Shut Down by Law Enforcement
Latest News
- Malicious NPM, PyPI Packages Stealing User Information
- VMware Confirms Exploit Code Released for Critical vRealize Logging Vulnerabilities
- 98% of Firms Have a Supply Chain Relationship That Has Been Breached: Analysis
- Dutch, European Hospitals ‘Hit by Pro-Russian Hackers’
- Gem Security Gets $11 Million Seed Investment for Cloud Incident Response Platform
- Ransomware Leads to Nantucket Public Schools Shutdown
- Stop, Collaborate and Listen: Disrupting Cybercrime Networks Requires Private-Public Cooperation and Information Sharing
- Boxx Insurance Raises $14.4 Million in Series B Funding
