The EU’s Justice and Home Affairs Agencies’ Network (JHAAN) has released new details of its continued work to monitor and contain cyber-threats since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A recently published paper, Contributing to the EU’s Solidarity with Ukraine, outlines the work of nine EU agencies in this area.
The list includes the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems (eu-LISA). It has been helping member states improve cyber-monitoring and protection of their border management systems since the beginning of the invasion.
Another agency outlined in the report is The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL). Their capacity-building TOPCOP project has been lending support to Moldova in the areas of cyber-investigations utilising OSINT tools, ATM hacking and the dark web.
The reports help to inform the European Commission policy-makers regarding cyber-threat levels across large scale IT systems.
The document states: “eu-LISA has been vigilantly monitoring cyber-threats to the central systems managed by the agency: the Schengen Information System (SIS), the Visa Information System (VIS) and Eurodac. Permanent monitoring is ongoing and pertinent information is communicated to relevant parties,” the document explained.
Europol has played an active role in the space, via its European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and Financial and Economic Crime Centre. Reportedly, they are:
- Actively engaging with Ukrainian law enforcement through a Europol Ukrainian liaison officer
- following a Law Enforcement Response Protocol (LE ERP) for major cross-body cyber-attacks
- Carrying out enhanced monitoring of cyber-threats through continuous contact with member states, open source monitoring, and the Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT).
Many of these coordinated activities appear to be deterring both potential state-based threats and organised crime groups attempting to capitalise on the war.
