EU proposes $1.2 billion plan to counter growing cybersecurity threats

The European Commission on Tuesday announced a 1.1-billion-euro ($1.2 billion) plan to counter growing cybersecurity threats, underscoring mounting concerns about a series of high-profile hacking incidents.

The growing use of cyberattacks in the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine has also triggered alarm.

"The EU Cyber Solidarity Act will strengthen solidarity at Union level to better detect, prepare for and respond to significant or large-scale cybersecurity incidents, by creating a European Cybersecurity Shield and a comprehensive Cyber Emergency Mechanism," the EU executive said in a statement.

The Shield will be made up of national and cross-border Security Operations Centres which will use state-of-the-art technology, such as artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics, to detect cross-border cyber threats and incidents.

The Cyber Emergency Mechanism will test entities in highly critical sectors such as healthcare, transport and energy for potential vulnerabilities.

The plan also includes setting up a EU Cybersecurity Reserve consisting of incident response services which will intervene at the request of an EU country or institution in the event of a significant or large-scale cybersecurity incident.

The Cyber Solidarity Act will require agreement from EU countries and European Parliament before it can become law.