New cybersecurity authority will meet national needs, EU obligations, e-Governance min says

Athens, Greece.-The draft law for the National Cybersecurity Authority will meet rising national needs and EU obligations, upgrading the supervisory level, and supporting related agencies in cybersecurity, Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou told a parliamentary committee on Friday.

Responding to opposition and related agencies’ questions, he said that the new authority will not be independent for two reasons – it is not good practice according to European data, and as an agency it does not protect any fundamental and constitutionally established right such as private data, or the privacy of communications. It also does not regulate any special market, Papastergiou said.

“We are creating a separate public legal entity, because in the new digital world, where technological advances happen at exponential rates, strengthening the digital state is imperative, to make us safer,” Papastergiou said. “It was not the government’s intention to create yet another public legal entity to serve minor political purposes. Its purpose was to strengthen the authority’s supervisory role, ahead also of the implementation of EU Regulation NIS2, which will go into effect in October 2024 and will greatly increase the number of supervised agencies from nearly 70 to about 20,000.” Besides absolutely critical infrastructure like energy, digital infrastructure, and the banking sector, the agencies will include public administration, courier services, preparation, production, and distribution of chemical products, and food production and processing, he said.

source:amna.gr