EU investing in technology and diplomacy to ward off cyber attacks

The EU has said it will increase investment in technology and put in place stricter guidelines for its member states to help combat the threat of attacks by hackers and other cyber criminals.

The European Commission is due to announce the proposals formally later this month, but in the meantime, a copy outlining its plans was sent to Reuters, which has released some of the details.

The website explained the EU also plans to impose stricter consumer safeguards and will work with governments around Europe to prevent nations launching attacks on EU countries. The organisation said it will use law enforcement and national resources to stop EU countries being attacked.

Other suggestions include developing a Europe-wide encryption platform using next generation quantum technologies. This would enhance digital identification systems, while also potentially protecting intellectual property infringement and promoting safer e-commerce.

It wants to set up a European Cybersecurity Research and Competence Centre to oversee the proposals and ensure they are actioned. It will work with other groups such as the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security to ensure co-ordination of efforts.

"The framework constitutes a first step in developing signaling and reactive capacities at EU and member-state level with the aim of influencing the behavior of potential aggressors," the report said.

The funds to finance the proposals will be raised by temporarily increasing EU spending to ensure it's able to invest as much as possible in technology to find those planning attacks before they are able to cause damage.

"In order to increase our chances of catching perpetrators, we need to improve our capacity to attribute cyber attacks to those responsible," the report explained.