"Businesses, individuals and public administrations in Europe still underestimate the risks of insufficiently protecting networks and information," said a release from the European Commission today. "Security presently represents only around 5-13 percent of IT expenditure, which is alarmingly low."
The release goes on to say that a new
IT security strategy has been developed for Europe as a partnership among member states, the IT industry and users. The compact also includes ENISA the European Network and Information Security Agency.
"The nature of the threat is changing and so must our response" said Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding. "In the past, hackers were motivated by a desire to show off, whereas today, many threats come from criminal activities and are motivated by profit. What we need is a renewed strategy based on dialogue, partnership and empowerment."
The Commission is also carrying out a public consultation on the security and privacy implications of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and will present its conclusions later in the year. "These initiatives are part of a coherent European policy on network and information security," said the release, "which also covers spam and spyware, cybercrime, the integrity and protection of critical communication infrastructures and related European research activities."
