The ECCC launched a knowledge-sharing webinar series throughout March 2024

Throughout the month of March, the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) has effectively utilised the resources and expertise within the European Cyber COmmunity project (ECCO), leveraging its community groups to host six insightful knowledge-sharing webinars. Covering a diverse range of topics including skills development, a European cybersecurity market overview, the Open Tools approach of CyberSec4Europe, bolstering security and resilience across civilian and space applications, discussions on the Cyber Resilience Act, and exploring organisational strategies for enhancing supply chain security, these webinars have served as platforms for strengthening collaboration within Europe on critical topics and building a European cybersecurity community, ultimately advancing understanding within Europe of the cybersecurity domain.

The ECCC has leveraged on the resources and collaborative spirit of the European Cyber Security Community (ECCO) and its diverse Community Groups spanning various sectors of cybersecurity. This collaboration resulted in a series of six engaging knowledge-sharing webinars throughout the month of March.

The six ECCO Community Groups, including the ones on skills development, support for startups, scale-ups, and SMEs, human factors in cybersecurity, synergies between civilian and space applications, cybersecurity road-mapping, and fostering trust within supply chains, meticulously organised the webinars with the aim of involving National Cybersecurity Centers (NCCs) and engaging the wider European cybersecurity community in capacity-building dialogues. The overarching objective was to disseminate knowledge and expertise on pivotal cybersecurity subjects pertinent to Europe, aligning with the strategic agenda outlined by the ECCC. In the subsequent sections, we will provide a comprehensive overview of each webinar conducted and furnish the presentation slides for participants' reference.

6 March: Community Group on Skills - Roadmap & Cyber Ranges for Education and Skills Development

This event gathered cybersecurity experts to address the skills gap through knowledge-sharing and strategic planning. As a matter of fact, 500 000 cybersecurity experts are currently needed in Europe, and the rapid evolution of the digital landscape makes reskilling and upskilling paramount. The online event featured a series of informative presentations highlighting ongoing successful education, skills frameworks, and case studies from European stakeholders. The event also presented an opportunity for questions and the exchange of ideas and insightful discussions.

We invite you to read the presentation HERE.

7 March: Community Group on Start-ups, Scale-ups, and SMEs - 2023 European Cybersecurity Market Overview

This session unveiled a comprehensive report detailing private investments, mergers and acquisitions, and the investment landscape within the European cybersecurity sector. By attending the webinar, cybersecurity professionals and experts gained strategic insights into European cybersecurity trends, enhancing their professional development. By delving into these insights, the cybersecurity community could also deepen its understanding of the operational landscape of start-ups, scale-ups, or SMEs, thus elucidating the spectrum of challenges and opportunities that arose within the European market.

We invite you to read the presentation HERE.

8 March: Community Group on Human Factors - A Footprint of CyberSec4Europe: two prominent cybersecurity tools

This webinar aimed at introducing the Open Tools approach of CyberSec4Europe and two prominent examples of tools for cybersecurity analysts and their training:

• Seccerts.org: The sec-certs set of tools download, process, and analyse security certificates issued under Common Criteria and NIST FIPS 140-2 schemes and turn these into computer-searchable and analysable datasets. 
• The Cyber Sandbox Creator (CSC): This is an open-source tool for building lightweight virtual laboratories for cybersecurity education, testing, and certification, that is in growing use since February 2020. 

We invite you to read the presentation HERE.

11 March: Introduction of the ECCO Community Group on Synergies in Cybersecurity for Civilian and Space Applications

This webinar aimed to introduce the ECCO Community Group on Synergies in Cybersecurity for Civilian and Space Applications. With the increasing integration of space technologies into civilian infrastructures, understanding the intersections of space and cybersecurity became paramount. Key synergies were highlighted between these domains along with their implications for enhancing the security and resilience of both civilian and space applications.

We invite you to read the presentation HERE.

11 March: Community Group on Road-Mapping - Towards automated compliance to the upcoming EU Cyber-Resilience Act

This webinar focused on building a roadmap towards a secure and resilient digital Europe. The first session tackled the challenges and requirements introduced by the upcoming EU Cyber-Resilience Act (CRA). Ranging from vulnerability and dependency management using SBOMs, encryption of sensitive data, or continuous risk assessment, these requirements shape the way companies provide services and digital goods in Europe. Seeing that today's world introduces faster development life-cycles and increasingly complex systems, only automation can help in addressing these requirements. With this webinar, we aimed to involve the cybersecurity community in the discussion on how open-source projects could work towards the automation of compliance to the CRA.

We invite you to read the presentation HERE.

19 March: Community Group on Trusted Supply Chains - Organisational and Operation Security in Trusted Supply Chains

This webinar focused on European cybersecurity supply chain. The first part of the webinar focused on the organisational aspects of Supply Chain Security. It covered the question of which criteria need to be fulfilled in order to qualify a supplier as an organisation which has essential baseline security requirements in place and therefore has the foundation to produce secure digital products. This is based on the fundamental assumption that no company can develop secure products, if the organisation does not have the essential cyber hygiene in place. This is also essential for service providers and providers of non-digital products, as also those can have a significant impact on the supply chain if they fail. The second part of the webinar shifted the focus to the underlying electronics and their supply chains from a hardware perspective. An exemplary supply chain for electronics systems was discussed together with potential attack vectors, drivers, and technologies for trusted electronics.

We invite you to read the presentation HERE.

In conclusion, it is evident that the ECCC remains steadfast in its commitment to building a robust European cybersecurity community. Moving forward, the ECCC will continue its efforts to provide platforms for the exchange of knowledge among National Coordination Centres and the broader European community, particularly focusing on strategically important topics. Anticipate further knowledge-sharing webinars in April, and stay updated by following the ECCC on social media platforms HERE and HERE, as well as monitoring the events page HERE, to make sure you do not miss out on upcoming webinars.