Stocktaking study of military cyber defence capabilities in the European Union (milCyberCAP)

The objective of this study was to establish a high level understanding of cyber defence capabilities across EDA's participating Member States (pMS) to support progress toward a more consistent level of cyber defence capability across the EU. Specifically, the study aimed to inform further action at the EU and national level. This stocktaking exercise included research into the different EU level organisations involved in cyber-defence activities in the context of common security and defence policy missions as well as data collection on cyber defence capabilities in each Member State. This was accomplished according to a common capability framework. The research was carried out via document review, semi-structured interviews and the development of a questionnaire distributed to those EU Member States participating in the EDA's Cyber Defence Project Team. EU-level recommendations stemming from this report include elements of enhancing EU network protection; strengthening intelligence capability; deepening incident response capabilities; creating a culture of cyber-security (through good practice, training and awareness-raising) and reinforcing links between NATO and the EU for cyber defence issues. For participating member states, the report recommends greater attention should be given to the development of cyber defence training and education initiatives; consideration should be given, to a certain extent, to sharing facilities and processes and information could be exchanged and developed to execute greater leadership in cyber defence.