A test of resilience and preparedness was conducted upon Europe’s energy sector this month.

The pan-European exercise brought together 30 national cyber security agencies, a number of EU agencies, bodies and networks, and over 1,000 experts covering a range of areas from incident response to decision-making.

Named 'Cyber Europe', it was designed to test the preparedness in case of a large-scale cyber-attack on Europe’s energy sector. The exercise tested coordination, cooperation capabilities and crisis management skills in order to assess the resilience of the sector.

Strengthen Resilience

A post exercise report will provide guidance to strengthen the resilience of the EU energy sector, and enable the European Commission to update its 2017 Recommendation on coordinated response to large-scale cybersecurity incidents and crises.

Kadri Simson, commissioner for energy, said: “As cyber threats continue to evolve, it is imperative to prioritise cybersecurity exercises. These proactive measures not only enhance our readiness to defend against potential cyberattacks, but also underscore our commitment to safeguarding our systems.

“Moreover, with the growing sophistication of smart grids, the stakes are higher as the interconnected systems become more susceptible to cyber threats.”

Commenting, Ryan McConechy, CTO of Barrier Networks called the exercise brilliant, but warned that many organisations are still on the backfoot when it comes to cyber defences.

“Organisations must harden their defences against these attacks, build up robust detection methodologies and work to remedy issues which could put them at risk,” he said. “A key part of this all comes down to resilience testing, as this allows organisations to run fire drill exercises, so they can spot weaknesses within their estates and then work to mitigate them. Further exercises with varied scenarios can play a crucial role in exposing previously unknown risks.

“This initiative will provide valuable security intel to operators within the energy sector, so they can fully understand the impacts of a successful attack on their operations. They can then use these insights to improve their defences and increase their resilience against attacks.”

Dan Raywood Senior Editor SC Media UK

Dan Raywood is a seasoned B2B journalist with over 20 years of experience, specializing in cybersecurity for the past 15 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes. Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.