Cyber security: EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes’ first visit to new ENISA office in Athens

The EU Vice President and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes visited the ENISA premises in Athens for the first time on Thursday 9 January. The objective was to obtain an overview of the Agency’s operations and to learn more of its Work Programme for 2014.

Among the points on the agenda:

• A discussion of the perspectives of the political context and technical trends in global and European cyber security as well as ENISA’s role
• An overview of the financial and operational results of 2013
• An overview of the new Work Programme 2014, which focussed on; 1. Support EU policy building, 2. Support capacity building, 3. Support co-operation among the agency stakeholders, and more details of ENISA projects in 2014, including:
  • ENISA's experience of Incident Reporting and how this could benefit the NIS Directive
  • NIS aspects of Smart Infrastructures (i.e. Smart Grids, Smart Cities and Smart Home)
  • Using Information Security to protect Personal Data and Privacy
  • Support Computer Emergency Response Teams; capacity building and law enforcement cooperation
  • Resilience and cyber security cooperation, plans, exercises, and strategies,
  • The European Cyber Security Month ECSM and
  • Cloud computing

Finally, Commissioner Kroes met the ENISA staff and remarked:

“The work of ENISA is more important than ever. I urge governments and companies to cooperate with ENISA’s experts in 2014 to build trust in their services. For many, that will involve catching up to global best practices. And for companies starting up in 2014 my message is to start on the right foot – with secure services and an understanding of how to address the risks as well as the opportunities of the online world.”

The Executive Director of ENISA, Professor Udo Helmbrecht commented: “We are very honoured to have Commissioner Kroes visiting us in Athens. I am pleased to recall that in 2013, the agency managed to successfully transfer staff and set up the new office with no disruptions to its operations. The new regulation and the Athens office mean that ENISA now can be more effective and more flexible. This is excellent news for cyber security in Europe. In 2014, we will be working more closely with our cyber security prevention and preparedness work with the EU, the Member States and Europol.”

Background: Since 2009, the Greek state has kindly provided a bureau du passage office in Athens for the Agency. It became operational in 2013, and the new regulation formalised staff being based in Athens, while the ENISA headquarters remain in Heraklion. The objective is to reduce mission costs, the carbon “footprint” as well as to increase efficiency and to match the Agency’s operational needs regarding flexibility.

EU Cyber Security Strategy and the proposal for an EU Network and Information Security Directive, and the new ENISA regulation 526/2013. Directions to the ENISA Athens office

For interviews; Ulf Bergström, Spokesman, ulf.bergstrom@enisa.europa.eu, mobile: + 30 6948 460 143, or Commission Representation in Greece, Mr Carlos.MARTIN-RUIZ-DE-GORDEJUELA@ec.europa.eu, Tel.: +30 210 727211

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