EU and Ukraine hold fifth Cyber Dialogue; CERT-EU and SSSCIP sign information-sharing arrangement

The European Union and Ukraine held the fifth round of their Cyber Dialogue in Brussels on 9 October, and the two sides agreed to deepen cyber cooperation with a focus on “concrete operational results”, according to a readout published on 13 October by the European External Action Service (EEAS).

The meeting produced one concrete step: CERT-EU, the computer emergency response team for the EU institutions, and Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP) signed an administrative arrangement. It opens the way to information exchange between CERT-EU and CERT-UA, Ukraine’s national response team, with the stated aim of improving the prevention, detection and mitigation of incidents.

Who took part

The EU side was co-chaired by Despina Spanou, Deputy Director-General at the Commission’s DG CNECT, Christiane Kirketerp de Viron, Acting Director for Cybersecurity and Trust, and Maciej Stadejek, Director for Security and Defence Policy at the EEAS. Ukraine was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Droniuk, with delegations from the foreign, digital transformation and defence ministries, the General Staff, the National Security and Defence Council’s office, the SSSCIP, the Security Service, Defence Intelligence and the Foreign Intelligence Service. The EU agency ENISA, Europol, the European Security and Defence College and the EU advisory mission EUAM Ukraine also took part, and EU member states attended as observers.

Agenda

The EEAS lists a broad agenda. It covered the cyber threat landscape, Ukraine’s alignment with EU law including the NIS2 Directive and the Cyber Resilience Act, and the implementation of the 5G Cybersecurity Toolbox in Ukraine. The two sides also discussed operational cooperation, cyber crisis management and cyber defence, the EU’s Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox including sanctions, and the fight against cybercrime.

Capacity building was another strand, including the EU Cybersecurity Reserve and support under the Tallinn Mechanism and the expanded mandate of EUAM Ukraine. The participants further exchanged views on responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, including the new UN Global Mechanism, on cybercrime under international conventions, and on public-private partnerships and links between the EU and Ukrainian cybersecurity industries.

Background

The EEAS says the dialogue took place “against the backdrop of Russia’s continued war of aggression against Ukraine” and that the EU “reiterated its continued and unwavering support for Ukraine”.

The readout does not give figures, funding amounts or a date for the next round. The full text is on the EEAS website.