Commission and EU countries simulate large scale cyber attacks to improve preparedness

Senior cybersecurity officials from EU Member States and the Commission are today taking part in the yearly 'Blueprint Operational Level Exercise' (Blue OLEx) to test EU preparedness in the event of a cyber-related crisis.

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Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age said:

This exercise will help us strengthen our cybersecurity defences and ensure a safer digital environment for our citizens and businesses across Member States.

This year's edition is led by the Italian authorities, with the support of EU agency for cybersecurity ENISA. In 2024, Blue OLEx is focusing on executive level cooperation, in particular via the Cyber Crisis Liaison Organisation Network (EU-CyCLONe), which was established when the Directive on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS2 Directive) came into force. The exercise will help cybersecurity leaders identify areas for improvement in the standardised way of responding to incidents and crises.

The aim of EU CyCLONe is to contribute to the management of large-scale cyber incidents and crises at operational level. It complements the existing cybersecurity structures at EU level by linking cooperation at technical level such as the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRTs) and political levels such as the Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR). The results obtained during the exercise will contribute to the evaluation of the Blueprint for a coordinated response to large-scale cybersecurity incidents and crises, adopted in 2017.

You can read further information about the EU cybersecurity strategy.

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