Molti in queste ore si stanno domandando come sia possibile che cellule di terroristi possano organizzare azioni di guerriglia in una delle capitali europee senza che polizia e servizi di intelligence ne sappiano cogliere i segnali intervenendo a bloccare le organizzazioni terroristiche.

Sullo sfondo di questa, per altro legittima domanda, emerge la volontà di taluni commentatori di mettere sul banco d'accusa le istituzioni europee non in grado di svolgere un ruolo adeguato in tema di difesa.

Europa “nano politico” nello scenario internazionale si dice, Europa senza strategia si argomenta alimentando quello che i media definiscono “euroscetticismo”.

Pensare che i singoli Stati, magari con una propria moneta, possano difendersi in modo migliore mi sembra una idea pericolosa e poco perseguibile; al contrario è forse giunto il tempo di accelerare il percorso di Unione Europea.

Qualcosa si sta muovendo in questo senso di seguito segnalo alcuni documenti ed un'esperienza personale con l'intervista ad uno dei leader di un progetto europeo in tema di Cybersicurezza.

Il punto di partenza è senza dubbio costituito  dalla Agenda Europea sulla Sicurezza:

• qui nella versione in inglese 

• qui nella versione in tedesco

Mentre qui si possono trovare ulteriori documenti sulla questione che nel corso del 2015 ha portato ad importanti decisioni a livello europeo. 

Oltre a queste azioni esistono diversi progetti europei.

Per lavoro ho partecipato ai lavori della Conferenza “Cybersecurity for developing Nations” che si è tenuta ad Istanbul il mese scorso e dove, naturalmente, si è parlato anche di contrasto al Cyberterrorismo.

La conferenza era co-organizzata dal progetto europeo ENCYSEC che promuove progetti in tema di sicurezza informatica nei Paesi come Kossovo, Macedonia e Moldavia. In questo caso l'Europa promuove la sicurezza (in questo caso specifico a contrasto dei cybercrime) anche in Paesi non nella zona euro ma con i quali è necessario collaborare.

Di seguito alcune domande che ho fatto al responsabile del progetto europeo Besnik Limaj (*).

You are the team leader of the trans-regional Project “ENCYSEC”, involving Macedonia, Kosovo and Moldavia. In your opinion, why is it important to work on information security precisely in these countries?
It is very important to work on the information security, not only in these three countries but in every one, since the information itself is the basis of the competitive advantage. Valuing and protecting information is important for every country and organisation.

How did you find the situation with regard to the cybersecurity in those countries?
Our Project has three main Components as listed above and the situation I have found is that none of the three countries had a National Cyber Security Strategy developed and neither created an National CERT. Exception is Moldova where there was only a Government CERT established. Now, with the support of our ENCYSEC Project, National Cyber Security Strategy in Kosovo is drafted and is in its final stage before sending it to the government for approval. National CERT's in Kosovo and Macedonia are in the process of establishment.

The project will be completed the next year, except for a possible extension. How are running the project until today? It will be necessary or appropriate the extension?
Project is supposed to end by the end of this year (i.e. 31st of December 2015). Now we're in a process of waiting for approval of extension of at least another 6 months. Until now, for our three beneficiary partner countries, we have facilitated a considerable number of training activities, participation in various conferences and also organised cyber security exercises.

At the FIRST conference you talked about PPP (Public Private Partnership). Could you tell us briefly what it is and what means its application to the cyber security?
Green Paper on a European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection, the European Commission provides an indicative list of 11 critical sectors of Critical Infrastructure:

• Energy

• Information, Communication Technologies (ICT)

• Water

• Food

• Health

• Financial

• Public & Legal Order and Safety

• Civil Administration

• Transport

• Chemical and Nuclear Industry

• Space and Research

Since most of the Critical Infrastructure in the hands of the private sector, there is a natural need for industry and government to work together and insure this infrastructure is both secure and resilient.

A public–private partnership (PPP) establishes a common scope and objectives and uses defined roles and work methodology to achieve shared goals in addressing Critical Information Infrastructure Protection (CIIP)

PPPs may focus on different aspects of security and resilience; these can be defined as the following:

• deterring (to deter attackers);

• protecting (uses research into new security threats);

• detecting (uses information-sharing to address new threats);

• responding (to deliver the capability to cope with the initial impact of an incident);

• recovering (to deliver the capability of repairing the final impact of an incident)

What's your opinion about managing cybersecurity in a crossborder region? Does it means a more strong collaboration between different Countries?
International Cooperation is a crucial factor in Cyber Security. Cross border cooperation and participation in the regional and international cyber exercises should be encouraged as well. Trusted Introducer and FIRST meetings are great examples of cooperation between European and International CERTs where they can meet on regular basis and exchange ideas and information.

(*) Besnik Limaj has an extensive background as a Team Leader and Chief Executive Officer.
 Currently he is a Team Leader of the EU funded transregional Project “Enhancing Cyber Security