On early March, the European Standardization Organizations (ESOs), CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, joined forces with ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, to organize their 8th Cybersecurity Standardization Conference.

The hybrid conference discussed the future of European cybersecurity standardization, the challenges related to the new legislation, standards for new requirements on digital products, and the standardization of the security of supply chains and their components.

The conference aimed to foster dialogue among policy makers, industry, research and standardization organizations, in view of an effective implementation of the EU cybersecurity legislation. Building on the effective contributions of past editions, this high-level event attracted over 200 on site and 2000 online attendees from the European Union and from the international community.

The conference was organized across four panels, joined by speakers from a broad range of organizations, private and public, to discuss ongoing and planned standardization work as well as future requirements.

The first panel involved a discussion on the topic of shaping the future of European standardization, with the participation of Ewa Zielińska, Vice-President Policy of CENELEC, Luis Jorge Romero, Director General of ETSI, Raluca Stefanuc, Deputy Head of Unit - Cybersecurity & Digital Privacy Policy, DG CONNECT, European Commission, and Andreas Mitrakas, Head of Unit of Market Certification Standardization at ENISA.

The second panel focused on standardization challenges related to new legislation, addressing questions on how best to tackle and how to keep track of the evolving landscape and multiple regulatory requirements.

Standards for new requirements on digital products were the main topic of the third panel, assessing lessons learnt from the progress that has been made so far, as well as discussing upcoming legislation.

The fourth panel put the standardization of the security of supply chains and their components in the limelight, discussing how to meet cybersecurity requirements stemming from the emerging legal framework and stakeholders alike.  

Participants represented a diverse community of associations that support small and medium-sized enterprises, vertical sectors, and industry, and included several speakers from the European Commission. This hybrid event allowed remote participation, while also offering great networking opportunities and live interactions for the onsite participants and speakers.