Aleš Černivec, XLAB reports on the CSP Forum 2015,  28-29 April in Brussels

Cyber security - a priority for Europe

The CSP Forum 2015 set the scene for making cyber security a top priority not only as part of the Digital Agenda for Europe but also as central to creating the Digital Single Market. Within this context, the Forum identified the research and innovation focus of Horizon 2020, setting out the topics and expectations of relevant ICT calls.

A Forum for European Excellence and Knowledge Exchange

The Exhibition areas within the Forum offered a showcase for a variety of on-going initiatives on trust and security, offering an opportunity to take stock of progress. These initiatives focus on different aspects of trust and security, ranging from IoT-related end-to-end security mechanisms (e.g. HECTOR), to security certification, verification and testing projects (e.g. SPaCIoS). 

The event also offered an important platform to share experiences, know-how and outputs in the area of cyber security and privacy. A key feature was the IPACSO project’s innovation framework in the session on “Incentivising Innovation in Cyber security”. An important point emerging here was that the security of business partners affects the utility of other businesses. In order to understand security and privacy, an appropriate cyber-risk management framework needs to be in place. The "Security Awareness and Risk Assessment" track highlighted the supply chain risk assessment methodology with particular reference to the MEDUSA project and alleviating cascading effects that are associated with security incidents occurring between interacting entities. 

WISER - A new Horizon 2020 partnership tackling cyber security
WISER is among the new initiatives putting cyber-risk management at the very heart of good business practice, benefitting multiple industries but especially critical infrastructures, process owners and ICT-intensive SMEs. The multi-faceted nature of cyberspace means that dealing with cyber risks at all levels of an organisation’s structure requires a multi-staged methodology to continuously, consistently and appropriately govern cyber strategy. 
The integrated approach to control mitigating activities will address cyber-security threats and their consequences in critical information infrastructure and empower decision makers in public and private organisations to assess cyber-risk effectively.